\ 




Gass_f_44L_ 
Book V NA -2. Vsl 7 




7 



^W^ILLEY'S 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL BOOK 



OF 



MANCHESTER 



18^6 




1890 



AND MANCHESTER EDITION OF THE BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Historic Sketches of that Part of New Hampshire Comprised Within the 

Limits of the Old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, 

and Manchester, From the Earliest Settlements 

to the Present Time. 



BY 



George Franklin Willey 



".lOGRAPHICAL, GENEALOGICAL, POLITICAL, ANECDOTAL 



ILLUSTRATED WITH FIVE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. 



1896: 

CJKORGE F. WILLKY, I'ulUishci^ 

MANCHESTER, N. H. 



^ 



li 



.Ml A'/ 






CONTENTS. 



SUBJPXTS. 

T) ng Township . 

The Old Church at the Centre 

Parks and Commons of Manchester 

Christian Science in Manchester 

Postotifice of Manchester 

Suburban Postotfices . 

Origin of the Nutfield Colony 

Wedding in the Olden Time 

Family prayer 

The English Range in Nutfield 

Roads and Streets of Manchester 

Ballou- McGregor Genealogy 

Titulary Litigations 

Brown and Burpee 

First Congregational Church of 

Manchester 
Ur. Wallace's Letter of Resignatioi 
Dr. Wallace's Farewell Sernn n 
The Aiken Range 
Plain Speaking . 
The Hovey Family 
Nutfield in the Revolution . 
The First Road 
Leach Library . 
Our Home Jubilee 
Worldly Wisdom 
Conmiunion Seasons . 
Diocese of Manchester 
Sincerity .... 
Bear and the Sawmill . 
Records of the Province . 
I'^jidemic Diseases 
The Eternal One 
Graveyard Inscrijjtions 
Mammoth Road 
Domestic Animals 
Founders of Londonderry . 
Manchester Board of Trade 
Slavery .... 
First Church in Nutfield 



17 

■> t 

35 
39 
43 
46 

48 
54 
58 
59 

63 

69 

76 

87 

88 
89 
90 
93 
99 
100 

103 
104 

105 
io6 

108 
108 
109 
1 1 i 
1 12 

113 
114 
116 
117 
118 
I 20 

123 
124 
134 
136 



'Deer, Bears, and Wolves 
The Eayers Range 
Grist Mills . 
Rogers Family . 
Rogers's Slide . 
At the Centennial 
Garrison Houses 
Richard .Ayer 
Ready Wit 

Indians of the Merrimack 
St. Paul's M. E. Church 
Funeral Observances of Early Sc 

tiers .... 

John McMurphy Genealogy 
Presbyterian Churcli, Londonderry 
Londonderry Tories . 
Bear Hunt of 1807 
Three Quarter Mile Range 
Town Accounts . 
First Frame House 
Mrs. Jane M. Wallace 
One of the Quaint Entries 
Early Schools and Schoolmasters 
Pleasant View Cemetery 
On Holland's Map 
Raising the First Church . 
Adams Female Academy 
John Moore 

High Range and Moose Hill 
Thrift and Sorrow 
Horace Greeley's Visit 
Deer Keepers 
Old Tax Receipt 
A Chapter of Tragedies 
Manchester Town House, 1841 
West Manchester in 1768 . 
A Relic .... 
The Longest Courtshi]) 
First Baptist Church, Mantheste 
The Spectacular . 
Making too Much Money . 
The First School house 



148 Boiled Eggs 

159 Capt. Thomas Patterson 

167 John McNeil 

168 Shrievalty of Hillsborough Count 
168 The Earthquake Shock 
184 The Principal Roads in Ti 

187 First Birth in Nutfield 

188 Witchcraft 

188 Cadwalader Jones 

189 First Baptist Church, Derry 
196 Nutfield Millerites 

Stark at Bunker Hill . 

199 Stark at Bennington 

20J Stark at Home . 

204 Stark's Patriotism 

208 Molly Stark Cannon . 

212 It Ca' No' Sp'ak the Word; 

213 Isaac Dodge and the Bear 
217 About Libraries . 

217 Nutfield Ranges and Boundaries 

218 State Industrial School 
218 Robert Mark 
221 Mrs. Scoby 
224 Banks and Banking 
226 Manchester Bank 
226 Manchester Savings Bank 

229 Amoskeag Bank 

230 Amoskeag National Bank 
233 Amoskeag Savings Bank 
237 Merchants Savings Bank 
240 City Bank . 
240 City Savings Bank 

248 Guaranty Savings Bank 

249 First National Bank 

252 Merrimack River Savings Bank 

253 Second National Bank 
256 Mechanics Savings Bank 

259 The Bank of New England 

260 The National Bank of the Com 

262 monwealth 

263 Derry field Savings Bank 
266 A Drunkard's Funeral 



267 
268 

2 7 2 

273 

274 

27s 
278 
284 
287 
288 
289 

293 
296 

3°3 
308 

308 

315 
317 
3'9 
323 
325 
329 
33° 
346 

347 
347 
347 
348 
348 
348 
348 
349 
349 
349 
35° 
350 
350 



351 



35' 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 


Hosley, Hun. John 


176 


AND PORTRAITS. 




Parsons, William M., M. D. 


176 






Dorion, Rev. Thomas A. . 


180 


Moulton, Hon. Mace 


26 


Balch, Col. Charles E. 


181 


Pike, Rufus H. . . . 


27 


Tardive], Emde H. 


184 


Maynard, John Hapgood . 


28 


Wallace, Rev. Cyrus W. . i 


87, 188 


Locke, Rev. Wm. S. . 


29 


White. Reuben . 


188 


Simons, Lewis 


32 


Hills, Rev. Charles D., D. D. 


196 


Clough, Hon. L. B. . 


32 


Thurston, James B. 


197 


Perkins, David P. 


:>?> 


McCrillis, John A. 


198 


Berry. Mrs. Mary F. . 


39 


Mara, William H. 


198 


Leete, Miss N. A. 


41 


Fairbanks, Henry B. . 


199 


Roby, Mrs. Mary A. . 


41 


Danforth, Mary S., M. D. . 


200 


Clough, Mary E. 


41 


Couch, Jacob S. 


201 


Taylor, Ernest . 


41 


Wadsworth, Capt. David 


202 


Clark, Rev. Matthew . 


S3. 55 


Hill, Horace A. . 


206 


Bailey, J. Warren 


55 


Parker. Hon. Nathan . 


21 1 


Pinkerton, Elder John 


55 


For.-aith, Hiram 


212 


Adams, Ira H., M. D. 


56 


Wells, Charles, M. D. 


218 


Parkinson, Henry 


56 


Jones, Hon. Jacob F. . 


223 


Perkins, David Lane . 


6r 


Fotsaith, Samuel C. 


225 


Challis, Major Timothy W. 


62 


Tinglof, Rev. O. G. . 


227 


Hazelton, Hon. George C. . 


72 


Fairbanks, Hon. Alfred G. . 


228 


Brown, George H. 


87 


Crawford, Hon. John G. 


238 


Burpee, W. E. . . . 


87 


Wallace, Col. A. C. . 


239 


Clapp, Rev. T. Eaton, D. I). 


91 


Plumer, John 


241 


Custer, Dr. Emil 


92 


Clark, Noah S. . 


241 


Campbell, Dr. William J. . 


97 


Kidder, Col. John S. 


242 


Greeley, Horace . 


98 


Weston, Alonzo H. 


243 


Mooar, J. A. . . . 


99 


Young, D. H. . 


243 


Bartlett, p;zra W. 


lOl 


Heron, William, Jr. . 


244 


Holland, Denis .\. 


102 


Wakefield, George L., M. D. 


245 


Leach, David R. 


106 


Kimball, Frank P. 


247 


SuUoway, Hon. Cyrus A. 


107 


McDonnell, B. F. 


247 


Clark, William Parker 


108 


Brien, Augustus .\. E., M. D. 


248 


Bradley, Rt. Rev. Denis M. 


109 


Mor.se, William T. 


251 


Seavey, George E. 


1 10 


Wallace, Fred L. 


256 


Baker, Wm. G. . 


1 1 2 


Cheney, Hon. Person C. 


257 


Baker, Rev. O. S. 


113 


Kriggs, Hon. James F. 


258 


'Joodwin, Henry 


114 


Dodge, Clarence M., M. D. 


259 


Currier, Hon. Moody 


IIS 


McAllester, Rev. W. C. 


260 


Clarke, Hon. Wm. C. 


119 


Elliott, W. H. . . . 


262 


Bartlett, Hon. Chas. H. 


121 


Gay, Hon. Alpheus 


263 


Knowlton, Hon. E. J. 


122 


Ray, Hon. John C. 


264 


Hayes, Chas. C. 


126 


Branch, Hon. Oliver E. 


26.S 


P^astman, Herbert W. 


127 


Baldwin, Edwin T. 


266 


Weston, Hon. James A. 


12S 


Temple, Charles W. . 


26S 


Blair, Hon. Henry W. 


132 


Elliott, Alonzo . 


269 


McDohald, Rev. William . 


145 


Gay, R. D. ... 


270 


Brown, Dr. Wm. Whitter . 


148 


Carvelle, Henry DeWolfe, M. D. 


271 


Clarke, Col. John B. . 


153 


Healy, Col. Daniel F"., and Man 




Clarke, Col. Arthur E. 


157 


Chester Deputies 


273 


Boyd, Alfred 


164 


McMur[)hy, Alexander 


274 


Reid, Gen. George 


165 


Guillet, Noel E., M. D. 


27s 


Wheeler, H. S. . 


166 


Hale, Arthur H. 


276 


Rogers, Major Robert 


16S 


Perkins, Wm. 


276 


Smyth, Hon. Frederick 


171 


Whittemore, Israel 


277 


Buck, William D., M. D. 


172 


Barton, Otis 


278 



Ferguson, John, M. D. 
Clark, Samuel 
Johnson, Edward P. . 
Nichols, Rev. J. H. . 
Pillsbury, Ro.secrans W. 
Fradd, Hon. Horatio 
Sullivan, Roger G. 
Herrick, Henry W. 
Lessard, Rev. Amedee 
Eaton, Francis B. 
Baldwin, James . 
Africa, Walter G. 
Goodwin, Daniel 
White, Joseph 
Lane, Col. George W. 
Floyd, Charles M. 
Poor, Wm. M. . 
Patterson, John D. 
Kimball, Jason J. 
Clapp, Allen N. 
Watts, Horace P. 
Colburn, Zaccheus 
Hardy, George H. 
Johnson, Nathan 
Colburn, Charles H. . 
Burnham, Hon. Henry E. 
Crossett, Elder Charles R., J 
O'Dowd, Michael 
Harrington, Patrick 
Kerwin, John F. 
Anderson, Carl W. 
Daniels, Joel 
Tracy, Alfred 
Burnham, Edward J. 
Browne, George Wald 
Fife, John Doe . 
Fife, Mary Dorothy 
McAllister, George Isaac 
French, AVi'liam 
Pattee, Dr. Luther 
Downs, Mrs. Clara L. 
Daniels, Harriet Eliza 
Gray, Mary E. . 
Bragg, Rev. L. D. 
French, Isabella W. 
French, Josephine W. 
Shilvock, Walter H. 
Herrick, Allan E. 
Soule, Henry D. 
Dorion, E. C. E. 
Cox, I. N. . 
Potter, John 
Morrill, Edward P. 
Quimby, Harry M. 
Butterfield, William M 
Lawson, H. J. 
Cavanaugh Brothers 
Rogers, John 



WILLS T'S BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



II 



OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Union Refugees . 


14 


Football .... 


14 


Checkers up at the Farm 


14 


Henry Ward Beecher . 


14 


" Is it so Nominated in the Bond 


?" >5 


Plan of Tyng Township 


18 


A Tyng Township Plan 


20 


Concord Street, Manchester, 1885 


25 


Merrimack Common, from top of 


Pembroke Block 


35 


Plan of Derryfield Park 


36 


Plan of Stark Park 


37 


South Main Street Bridge . 


38 


Birthplace of Horace Greeley 




Amherst, N. H. 


41 


Clerks at Manchester Postofifice . 


42 


Postoffice, Manchester 


42 


Daniel W. Lane 


13 


Joseph L. Stevens 


44 


John R. Willis .... 


44 


Josiah G. Dearborn 


4.S 


Joel Taylor .... 


45 


Officials in Manchester Postoffice 


46 


Carriers at Manchester Postoffice 


47 


Londonderry, Ireland, from the 




North 


49 


Londonderry, Ireland, from the 




South 


49 


Walker's Monument, London- 




derry, Ireland 


50 


Ship Quay Street 


50 


The Diamond .... 


5t 


Enniskillen .... 


51 


I'he First Sermon in Nutfield 


52 


George W. Kimball's Residence, 




North I>ondonderry 


54 


Charles McAllister's Residence, 




Londonderry 


55 


Dr. Adams's Residence, Derry 




Depot 


56 


W. P. Mack's Residence, London- 




derry ..... 


58 


Map of the English Range in 




Nutfield .... 


60 


Beaver Pond, or Tsienneto Lake, 




Derry 


61 


McGregor Coat of Arms 


70 


First Framed House in Nutfield . 


71 


Gun used by Rev. James Mc- 




gregor 


71 


Crystal Avenue, Derry Depot, '94 


77 


Lincoln ..... 


80 


The Charity Patient . 


81 


"Why don't )ou speak for your- 




self, John ?" .... 


81 



Home of John Rogers, New Ca- 
naan, Conn. .... 

Taking the Oath and Drawing 
Rations ..... 

Broadway, Derry Depot, looking 
East, 1894 .... 

Broadway, Derry Dejjot, looking 
West, 1894 .... 

Birch Street, Derry Depot, 1894 . 

First Congregational Churcl\ 
erected 1839 .... 

Map of the Aikens Range . 

The Crispeen House, Londonderry 

Residence of Bishop Bradley 

Mount St. Mary's Academy 

St. Patrick's Orphanage for Girls 

St. Joseph's Orphanage for Bo)s 

St. Joseph's Cathedral 

George E. Seavey's Residence 

Home of Mrs. Mary J. Tenney, 
Gen. Stark's Granddaughter 

City Hall, Manchester 

Government Building, Manchester 

The Weston Residence 

View of Manchester, looking 
East from the Top of the Ken- 
nard 

Rev. Edward L. Parker 

View of Derry Village 

Main Street, East Derry, Winter 
Scene ..... 

Kennard Building, Manchester . 

Mrs. Mary J. Tenney, Gen. Stark's 
Granddaughter 

City Library, Manchester . 

Clark &: Kimball Flats, Chestnut 
Street 

Col. Arthur E. Clarke's Residence 

Map of the Layers Range 

Potato Field, Derry 

Henry S. Wheeler's House, Derry 

Rogers's Slide, Lake George 

The Waterman Place, East Derry 

Amoskeag Falls .... 

Merrimack River, below Amos- 
keag Falls • . . . 

Police Station, Manchester . 

Presbyterian Church, London- 
derry ■ . . . . 

County Jail, Manchester 

Map of the Three Quarter Mile 
Range ..... 

Mrs. Betsy (Coburn) Annis 

Mrs. Sarah (Coburn) Morrison . 

Elm Street, Manchester, looking 
South • • . . . 

McGregor Bridge, Manchester . 



81 

84 

85 
86 

89 
94 
96 
104 
104 
104 
104 
1 10 
III 

117 
120 
127 

128 



'35 
137 
139 

141 
143 

MS 
147 

154 
158 
160 
162 
166 
.69 
170 
190 

192 
194 

205 
206 

214 
215 
215 

216 
222 



Lowell Street, 1885 

Proposed Swedish Mission Church 

Soldiers' Monument, Manchester . 

Map of portion of the High Range 
and Moose Hill 

Schoolhouse in District No i, 
Londonderry .... 

Court House, Manchester . 

Col. .\. C. Wallace and Lumber- 
men ..... 

Weston Terrace, corner Lowell 
and Chestnut Streets 

Old Ta.x Receipt 

Elm Street, looking North 

Old Town House, Manchester 

Location of Old Ferries and 
Highways of West Manchester 
in 1768 ..... 

Ladies' Parlor, I. O. O. F. Hall, 
Derry Depot .... 

Landing of the Norsemen . 

Ichabod Crane and the Headless 
Horseman .... 

Second Framed House in Nutfield 

Grave of General Stark 

The Returned Volunteer 

Roger G. Sullivan's Residence . 

First Baptist Church and Parson- 
age, Derry Depot 

R. W. Pillsbury's Residence, Lon- 
donderry .... 

Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill 

Stark at Bunker Hill . 

Stark at Bennington . 

Bennington Battle Ground and 
Vicinity ..... 

Old Constitution House, Windsor, 
Vt 

First Meeting-house in Vermont . 

Bennington Battle Monument 

Stark Running the Gauntlet 

Catamount Tavern, Bennington, 
Vt 

Home of Elizabeth B. Stark, Man- 
chester ..... 

Hessian Soldiers . . ... 

Home of Gen. Stark, Manchester 

John Stark .... 

Equestrian Statue of Stark . 

Stark's Birthplace, Derry 

Statuette of Stark 

The Molly Stark Cannon . 

Eim Street, Manchester, next day 
after the Big Storm, March 12, 
1 888 

Map of the Nutfield Ranges and 
Boundaries .... 



226 
227 
23c 



230 



236 
237 

239 

246 

248 
250 
252 



254 

255 
280 

281 
281 
281 
281 

286 



291 
294 

295 
296 

297 

297 
298 
299 
300 

300 

301 
302 
304 

305 
306 

307 

3°7 
308 



321 

324 



WILLE7''S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



State Industrial School, Manchester 325 

C. M. Floyd's Clothing Store, 

Manchester .... 326 

The Patterson Homestead, Lon- 
donderry . . . .329 

Store of Cushman & Hardy Com- 
pany 335 



Manchester Board of Trade Offi- 
cers ..... 

Rev. Francis S. Bacon 

Carl W. Anderson's Jewelry Store 

Patrick Harrington's Residence, 
Manchester .... 

Harrington Building, Manchester 





New City Hotel .... 


344 


340 


Fred Cotton .... 


344 


341 


Willey's Historic Chamber . 


370 


34' 


Rip Van Winkle at Home . 


372 




" Fighting Bob " 


372 


343 


Rip Van Winkle and the Gnome 


372 


343 


Rip Van Winkle returned . 


372 




i:nion rkkugkks. 

In Mandiester Art Gallery. 



■■ 


^^L '*' 


*- '" "^"^^^^^^^^^^^l 


^H 






w % 


m 




^L ^ 


r 





FOOTBALL. 
Ill Manchester Art Gallery. 




^■■^d 



Pp^^ 


i 




1^ 




j 





CHECKERS UP AT THE FARM. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 



HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
In Mandiester Art Gallery. 




"is ir so NOMINATED IN THE IJOND ? '" 
111 Manchester Art Gallery. 



TYNG TOWNSHIP. 



EVEN at this not very distant day few compre- 
hend the difficulties encountered by the early 
settlers of the Merrimack valley in securing grants 
for their- townships, and the efforts it often re- 
quired to carry out the conditions of those con- 
veyances. The boundary between the provinces 
of Massachusetts and New Hampshire was a 
disputed line. This difference had arisen largely 
from a misconception at the outset of the course 
followed by the river, it being the current belief 
that the Merrimack rose in the west and 
flowed due east its entire length as it does from 
Dracut to its mouth. Another source of trouble 
arose from the slack methods of survey. It was 
the rule rather than the exception for the surveyor 
" to carry one for every ten rods," which alone, 
coupled with indifferent measurement, could but 
cause mistakes and misunderstandings, as the 
surveys always called for more land than could be 
held. Another cause of annoyance to the inhabi- 
tants of New Hampshire was the grasping policy 
of the Puritans of the lower colony. These last 
claimed at one time by their charter a strip of New 
Hampshire territory three miles wide following 
the east bank of the Merrimack as far as three 
miles north of the outlet of Lake Winnipesauke. 
Owing to the value of its fisheries the country 
about Namaske Falls, as Amoskeag was then 
called, and that bordering upon the banks of the 
Merrimack for several miles below, was always 
eagerly sought for by the early settlers, as it had 
been by the Indians before them. So it was 
claimed and counter-claimed, but never properly 
granted to any one, if we except the title given to 
him who was its rightful owner, and who had 
known it as the heart of his wildwood empire at 
the zenith of his reia:n over the Pennacooks and 



allied tribes of red men. In 1662 Passaconnaway 
petitioned to the general court of Massachusetts 
for a grant of land along the Merrimack for him- 
self and people, the following being a copy of the 
document that is still sacredly preserved in the 
archives of that state : 

To tlie hon"' John Kndicot Esq' Gov"": together with the 
rest of the hon"' Generall court now assembled in Boston. the 
petition of Papisseconnewa in the behalfe of him selfe, as also of 
many otlier indians who were for a longe time tliemselves and 
their progenitors seated ii|]on a tract of land named Noticot, 
and is now in the possession of Mr. William Brenton of Rode 
Hand marchante ; and is now confirmed to the said Mr. Brenton 
to him his heirs & assigns according to the lav\es of this Juris- 
diction, by reason of which tract of land being taken as afore- 
saide, & throwing your poor ])etitioner with many others in an 
unsettled condition, & must be forced in a short time to 
remove to sum other place, the humble request of y' poor 
petitioner is that this hon"' Court would please to grant unto us 
a ]3arcel of land for our comfortable situation, to be stated for 
our enjoyment, as also for the comfort of these after us: as also 
that this hon"' court would please to take into your serious and 
l)ious consideration the condition and also the request of your 
poor suijpliantes, & to appoint two or three persons as a com- 
mittee to assist the same sum one or two indians to view & 
determine on some place and to lay out y" same. Not further 
to trouble this hon"' assembly, humby craving an expected 
answer this present session, I shall still remain y' Humble Ser- 
vante whom y*^ shall comande. Papisseconewa. 

Boston : 9 : 3 mo. 1662. 

In ans' to this petition the magistrates' judge meele to 
Graunt unto Papisseconeway and his men or Associates about 
Natticott above Mr. Brentons land where it is free a mile & a 
halfe on either side Merrimack river in breadth & 3 miles on 
either side in length provided he nor they doe not alienate any 
part of this Graunt without leave and license from this court 
first obtained if their brethren the deputys consent hereto. 

9 may, 1662. Edward Rawson. 

consented to by the ilei)utyes. 

William Torrev, clerc. 



17 



i8 



WJLLErs BO OK OF NU7FIEL D. 



According to the order of the Hon"' Generall Court, ther is 
laid-out unto the Indians, papisseconeway & his associates, the 
inhabitance of Naticott, three miles square, or so much (rather) 
as contains it in the figure of a rhomboide, upon merrimack riv', 
beginning at the head of Mr. Brintons land at Naticott, on the 
east side of the riv', & then it joyneth to his line, which lines 
runnes halfe against North-ward of the East, it lyeth one mile & 
halfe wide on each side of y" Riv', and some what better, and 
runnes three miles up the Riv' : the Northern line on the East 
side of the Riv' is bounded by a brook (called by y" Indians) 
Suskayquetuck, right against the falls in the riv' Pokechuous. 
the end lines on both sides of the riv' are paralelle ; the side line 
on the east side of the riv' runnes halfe a point eastward of the 
No : No : east, and the side line on the west side of the riv' 
runnes Northeast and by North, all which is sufficiently bounded 
and marked with, also ther is two smale islands in the Riv', 
part of which, the lower end line cutts crosse, one of which 
Papisseconeway have lived upon & planted a long time & a 
smale patch of intervaile land, on the west side of the Riv', 
anent and a little below y Islands, by estemation about forty 



made to one whose people had held it as their 
fishing and planting ground for unnumbered years ! 
Naticott being one of the forms of the Indian 
name for that land now embraced in Litchfield, 
the southern boundary of this grant was near the 
northern line of that town at the present day, and 
extended three miles up the river. There is no 
record to show that it was of little if any benefit 
to the aged sachem. 

Finding that no satisfactory settlement rela- 
tive to the line between the provinces could be 
reached, New Hampshire began to grant territory, 
portions of which were claimed by Massachusetts, 
among such grants being those of Bow and Can- 
terbury in 1727. That very year Major Ephraim 
Hildreth, Captain John Shepley, and others, who 
had been soldiers under Capt. William Tyng of 




U<,^,«s«.'^ 



accres, which joyneth to their land and to Sauhegon Riv', wliich 
the Indians have planted (much of it) a long time, & considering 
there is very little good land in that which is Now laid out unto 
tliem, the Indians do earnestly request this Hon"' Court to grant 
these two smale islands & y" patch of intervaile, as it is bounded 
by y"' Hills. This land was laid out 27. 3 mo. 1663. By John 
Parks & Jonathan Danforth, Surveyors. 

This was done by us and at our ch''-"= wholly, at the request 
of the indians. It was important, and as we are informed by 
the order of this Hon"' Court, respecting ourselves, hence we 
humbly request this Hon"' Generall court (if our services be 
acceptable) that they should take order we may be compensted 
for the same. So shall we remain your humble servants as 
Before. 

The expense bill of the surveyors, amounting 
to nearly eleven pounds, was allowed, and there 
closes the record of the first grant of land made in 
what is now the territory of Manchester, and 




Scile o^ isOTodij loc-^lixc^ 



Dunstable, and who, as their petition showed, had 
"in the year 1703, raised a company of volunteers 
in the winter season to go in quest of the Indian 
Enemy, and had performed a difficult march on 
show shoes as far as Winnipissioke Lake and 
killed six of the Enemy," asked of the Massachu- 
setts legislature a grant of land known as Harry- 
town for the benefit of these soldiers or their heirs. 
This petition was ignored, but another dated Dec. 
13, 1734, received a favorable response, as follows: 

In the House of Representative, December 13, 1734. 

Read and Ordered that the P'"' have Leave by a Surveyor 
and Chainmen on Oath to Survey and lay out between the 
Township of Litchfield and Suncook or Lovewell's Towne, on 
the east side of Merrimack River (A) the quantity of six miles 
square of land. Exclusive of Robert Rand's grant, and the three 
farms pitched upon by the Honr'ble Sam'l Thaxter, J no. Turner, 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



19 



and Will"' Dudley, Esqr., to satisfie their grants and also exclu- 
sive of Two hundred acres of Land at the most Convenient 
place at Namaskeeg Falls, which is hereby Reserved for jjublick 
use and benefit of the Inhabitants of the province, for Taking 
and curing Fish There, and that they return a plat thereof to 
this Court within twelve months, for Confirmation to the Pts and 
Their associates, their heirs and assigns Respectively. Provided 
the Grantees do settle the above Said Tract with Sixty Families, 
within Four \ears from the Confirmation of the Plat, each 
family to have an house of Eighteen feet s(|uare and Seven feet 
stud at y'-" least and four acres brought to & Plowed or Stocked 
with English Grass, & fitted for mowing, and also to Lay out 
three Lots with the others, one for the first Minister, one for 
the Ministry, and one for the School, and within said term 
Settle a Learned orthodox Minister and Build a convenient 
House for the public Worship of God, and whereas Divers of 
y" Persons for whose merit this Grant is made are Deceased, it 
is further ordered the Grant shall be and belong to Some of his 
male Descendants wherein Preference shall be given to the 
eldest Son (B) and Further it is Ordered that those persons 
shares in this grant shall revert to the province who shall not 
perform the condition of s'' Grant as above. 
Sent up for concurrence, 

J. QuiNCY, Speaker. 

In Council, Dec. 14"' 1734. 

Read & Non concurred. J. Willard, Sec'y. 

In Council April 17"' 1735, Read & Reconsidered, and 
Concurred with the amendments (A) To Extend three miles 
Eastward from the said River conformable to the Settlement of 
the Divisional Line between this province & the province of 
New Hampshire, made by order of King Charls the Second in 
Council in the twenty-ninth Year of his Reign, Anno Dom. 1677. 
(Bj To be admitted by a Committee of this Court who 
shall take care that Bonds be given for their Respective per- 
formance of the Condition of this Grant to the Treasurer of y"^ 
Province, to the Vallue of Twenty Pounds at Least by each 
Grantee, as well as by such as personally appear by those Who 
are the Descendants as above said, who may appear by their 
Guardian or next Friend, & ordered that Will'" Dudley, Esq., 
with such others as shall be joyn'd by the Hon'ble House of 
Representative be the Com'""" for the purposes within mentioned. 
Sent Down for concurrence. 

J. Wli,LARD, Sec'y. 
in the House of Representatives Ajjril 17, 1735. 

Read & Concurred, & Col Prescott, & Cajit. 
Thomson are Joyned in the aflair. 

J. (^uiNCY, Sjieaker. 
18"', Consented to 

J. Belcher. 
A true copy PLxamined pr, Thau Mason. 

Captain Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable 
made the survey, and the court acting favorably 
upon his return, the cfrant was closed. The new 
township was named in honor of Ca]itain Tyng, 
and it will be seen that it embraced much of the 



territory included in the grant made to Passacon- 
naway nearly three fourths of a century before. 
Among the records of the new township we find 
the following interesting proceedings : 

Notification is hereby given to the grantees of the tract of 
land between Suncook and Litchfield on the east side of Merri- 
mack river that thay assemble at the house of Coll. lonas Clark 
of Chelmsford on the 20"' of May Next by ten o'clock forenoon 
in Order that thay make out their title thereto and that thay 
were in the march under the late Capt. Tyng and come prejiared 
to Enter into Bond to fullfill the terms of the Grant accordingly. 
Wm. Dudley by Order of ye Com"". 

Fourteen days before the day of the meeting above men- 
tioned whereof fail not and have you this warrant w"' during 
therein. At the meeting abouerd Given under my hand and 
Seal. At Groton in P' County the Twenty fifth day of April in 
the eaight year of his Majesties Reign. 

Anno Dom. 1735. Benjm Precott Justice of peace. 

Mid' SS May the 20'", 1735. 

Pursuant to the within written warrant I the Subscriber have 
Notified and warned the grantees and prop' within mentioned to 
meet at the time and place As was therein Directed. 

Att^ John Shepley. 

At a meeting of the Grantees and Prop" of a tract of Land 
Granted for a township to the Souldiers under the Command of 
the Late Cap W'" Tyng Dec'^' Joyning to the easterly Side mer- 
rimack River Between Litchfield and Suncook or Levels town 
(so called) at the house of Coll" Jonas Clark in Chelmsford on 
the 20"' day of May 1735. 

Then Voted to chose Joseph Blanchard Prop'" Clerk. 

Then the following List was Del"' to the Clerk of the Coll" 
Courts Com'"''^^ viz., the Honr''' Coll" W"" Dudley Benj ' Prescott, 
Esq., & Cap' Benj" Thompson w'^'' is as Followeth 

A List of the Soulders that went out under the Command 
of Cap' \V'" Tyng to Winepiscoebeag the year t 703 



Admitted. 



John Shejtley 
Joseph Parker 
Richard Warner 
Nathaniel Woods 
Joseph Blanchard 
John Cumings 
Thomas Lund 
William Whitney 
John Longley 
Joseph Perham 
Joseph Butterfield 
John Spalding 
John Spalding Jun' 
Sam' Spalding 
Henry Sjialding 



William Longley 
Eben Spalding 
Sam' Davis 
Joseph Lakin 
Nath' Blood 
John Holdin 
Jonathan Page 
Nathaniel Butterfield 
Jonathan Butterfield 
John Hunt 
Jona"' Hill 
Jonathan Parker 
Thomas G. Talbird 
Peter Talbird 
Stephen Keyes 



IVIL LET'S BOOK OF NUFFIELD. 



Thomas Cumings 
Eleazer Parker 
Tho>- Tarble 
James Blanchard 
Joseph Guilson 
Sam' Woods 
Sam' Chamberlain 
Timothy Spalding 



Benony Perham : Sam' 
Josiah Richardson 
Jonathan Richardson 
Henry Farwell 
John Richardson 
Ephraim Hildreth 
Stephen Pierce 
Paul Fletcher 



The above Named persons were all admitted and gave Bond 
(Except William Whitney) into the grant made to the Com- 
pany under Ca|i' \^■illiam Tyng the 20'" and 25"' of may 1735 

The records then show that several meetings 
were held at Westford, Mass., to consider the 
matter of making a survey of the territory into 
lots for the grantees. There were to be sixty- 
three shares of four lots each, " besides y" Meadow 
lotts wh''' most needed the same and Had well 
marked Bounded and Numbered the Same and 




also a Lott of the contents of one hundred and 
Seventeen acres on the Brook Called Little 
Cohass Brook in the Second Range of Lotts & of 
plans for the Mill Lott Wh^'' is not Completed 
amongst the rest a plan and table whereof was 
Exhibited to the Prop" and also had run and 
marked with Care the east line of the township so as 
to keep Exact three miles and no more from each 
and every part of Merrimack River. 

" Which was voted to be accepted." The 
expense of this survey to each grantee was 
^9-i4s-3d, which several amounts were to be 
deducted from the sum to be paid by them for the 
grant. 

Then voted that the Lotts be jnit into one hatt and the 
names of the Prop'* into another. And that M' Thomas 



Kidder & M' Sampson Spalding be desired to draw them one to 
Draw the Names and the other to Draw the Lott and as thay 
are Successively drawn the Clerk enter the Same to Such prop"' 
as are so Drawn. 

When this had been done and the settlers 
came to take possession, many of them were dis- 
satisfied with the land which had fallen to their 
credit. An area of 1680 acres was fuuntl unlit for 
profitable cultivation and accordingly a request 
was made for a grant of other land to that extent. 
This appeal was not made in vain, for on Aug. 2, 
1736, it was "Also voted that Messrs. Benjamin 
Parker and John Colburn be Directed and Desired 
with a Surveyor and Chainmen to Lay out the 
best piece of y" unappropriated Lands of the 
Province to Satisfy the Grant of 16S0 acres made 
to this Prop">' thay can find with all Convenient 
Speed and make return thereof at next Prop" 
Meeting." 

At a Proprietors' meeting held in Groton 
Tuesday, March 28, 1738, the following report was 
submitted and allowed : 

Benj. Parker From the Com'" appointed to lay out y° 16S0 
acre grant reported that thay had attended that Service & 
that a plan thereof was Returned to the Gen" Court and accepted 
and Layd an Account of his Expenses before the Society as 
Followeth. Nov. 22, 1736. 

Prop' Dr. for Service running round and taking a plan of 
16S0 acres of Land Joying to Piskatoquage River. _;^22-i2S. 
Joseph Blanchard, Prop. Clerk. 

It is thus conclusively shown that the Tyng 
township grant was made to include a tract of 
land on the west side of the Merrimack river, 
located according to the plan here given and 
described in the archives of Massachusetts, as 
follows : 

I The Subscriber Together with JdhTi Culliurne & Benjamin 
Parker as Chainmen have Layd out to the Prop" of Tyngs 
Township, so Called, or y" grantees of a Tract of Land Between 
Litchfield and Suncook on y'-' Easterly Side Merrimack River, 
A Tract of Land Adjoyning to Piscatquag River Containing on 
Thousand Six Hundred An Sixty Eight Acres Butted and 
Bounded as by the figure herewith wh"^'" is plan'd by a Scale of 
one hundred And Sixty perch to an Inch, with a Small Island 
Containing Twelve Acres Lying in Merrimack River Between 
Crosby's Brook and Short falls so Called wh''' is in Pursuance of 
a grant of one thousand Six hundred and Eighty Acres made 
to S'' Prop'" Sam'l Cummings Surv' 

October 10''' 1736 — 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUT-FIELD. 



Such writers as have mentioned this addition 
of 1680 acres to the grant of Tyng township have 
said that it was done to make up a lack of territory 
as described in the original hounds. The town- 
ship records, however, which it has been our good 
fortune to consult, and which we have good 
reasons to believe that the others had not seen, 
say that it was asked for on account of the poor 
quality of a portion of the land, which is spoken 
of as " too mean for anything ! " The returns 
made might be construed to indicate a shortage in 
measurement, but the above appears to be the 
true cause of complaint. The barrenness of much 
of the land along the banks of the Merrimack was 
well known, and Harrytown is claimed to have 
received its name from the current expression 
applied to those who had the courage to settle 
there : " He's gone to the Old Harry ! " An old 
writer, little dreaming of its future, described it as 
" a horrid waste of sand which must forever be 
shunned by man." 

Assuming that Massachusetts had the power 
to maintain her jurisdiction over this grant, the 
grantees had no easy matter to meet their part of 
the conditions, and it is interesting to study the 
thrift with which this was attempted. Judge 
Potter says in his " History of Manchester " that 
" it is possible that Major Hildreth and others of 
the grantees were already located upon the granted 
premises." Certain ones of them did settle about 
the mouth of Cohas brook, but there is nothing 
in the records to show that the Major was with 
the rest. Calculations were at once made to build 
a sawmill a little above where the Harvey mill has 
since stood, it being the first mdl raised within the 
bounds of the future city of manufactures. But 
this mill was five years in building ! Considering 
the number of families already settled within the 
limits of the grant, in this case counting the 
Scotch-Irish, it was not deemed a doubtful matter 
to get the required sixty. Neither was it a serious 
undertaking, with the lumber growing almost on 
the spot, to construct the log houses of the 
required size. The cultivation of the four acres 
within the prescribed time was not so easily done, 
though there is no reason to believe the Puritan 
settlers of Tyng township failed to perform this 
part of their costlv contract. But the o-reat difti- 



culty came when the matter of building a meeting- 
house could be no longer postponed. We find in 
the records under date of Jan. i, 1739, the fourth 
year of their occupancy of the grant, that it was — 

Voted to Build a Meeting house in .Said Township of the 
Following dimensions viz' Forty two feet Long and thirty feet 
wide twenty feet between Joynts and that the meeting house 
frame be raised at or before the Last day of August next and 
that the roof be boarded shingled Weather boards put on the 
boarding Round well Chamfered the necessary Doors made and 
Hung and Double floor layd below with all Convenient Sjieed 
after the s'' l''raim is up so that it be thus finished by the first of 
Dec. next and that Eleazer Tyng and Benj'^ Thompson and 
Ca|5tain Jonathan Brewer or any two of them be a Com''" fully 
emjiowered in behalf of this Porp'" to Lett out the S' work. 

It can be readily understood that this was an 
anxious period to the grantees of Tyng township. 
The Scotch-Irish settlers, whom they had counted 
to get the required number of families, gave them 
no assistance nor shared their forebodings. 
The grant on the West side of the Merrimack 
river known as Narraganset No. Five, now Bed- 
ford, had been settled mostly by their kindred 
people, and it was natural they should assimilate 
with them both in social and religious matters. 
Though there had been no long discussion relative 
to the location of the proposed meeting-house, it 
was not built as quickly as expected. The time 
which had been set to have it raised passed, and at 
a meeting in the following September it was voted 
the " Com'^^ for Building the meeting house be 
directed to see that it be raised and inclosed 
according to the former Vote Respecting the 
Same At or before the Last day of June next.' 
Other actions taken by the township show that 
the failure of the contractor to carry out his 
agreement was not due to any fault of his, but 
from a failure to build the sawmill, from which he 
was expected to get his lumber, as soon as had 
been expected. Thus we find that the building of 
the house was allowed to be postponed until finally 
the contractor was given till Nov. i, 1741. It is 
interesting to note that in the bill allowed for the 
expense of raising the meeting-house we find it 
headed with the item: "To Joseph Blanchard for 
Rum and Provision ^2-i5s-3d." With this 
account the records of Tyng township end 
abruptly. 



WJLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



While these troubles at home were occupying 
the attention of the inhabitants of Tyng township, 
Maj. Hildreth's colony was threatened with a blow 
from the head of their government which would not 
only rob them of their town rights, but place them 
in the unenviable position of being intruders them- 
selves among those whom they had been wont to 
consider interlopers and had never hesitated to 
contravene at every opportunity. The settlement 
of the line between the provinces of New Hamp- 
shire and Massachusetts was approaching an end, 
and March 5, i 740, the long and perplexing con- 
troversy was closed by a decision that the latter 
province should extend three miles north of the 
Merrimack river, following a similar course, 
"beginning at the Atlantic ocean and ending at a 
point due north of Pawtucket falls, and a straight 
line drawn from thence due west till it meets with 
his Majesty's other governments." This left the 
grant of Tyng township, with twenty-seven others, 
within the limits of New Hampshire, and of course 
deprived of the powers which had cost them so 
much and for which they had worked so hard. 
The grant itself had cost them over $40,000. 

With commendable courage the Puritan 
inhabitants of Tyng township tried to finish its 
meeting-house and settle "a learned or orthodox" 
minister, to find the last the crowning difficulty. 
Under the mistaken belief that they could secure 
assistance from their Presbyterian neighbors a 
little farther north and east, they had located their 
meeting-house upon the eastern limits of their 
settlement. The sturdy Scots, however, had not 
forgotten the distrust and opposition they had met 
from the first, and the word " usurper " still rankled 
in their breasts. This, coupled with their natural 
dislike of the others' relimous methods, afforded 
them ample excuse to hold aloof from the church 
of their rivals. The grantees of Tyng township 
saw, when it was too late, that they had built their 
church too far on one side for the benefit of their 
own people, which with the scarcity of money 
made it impossible for them to raise the 
funds for a regular preacher. They did the 
best they could by having occasional preaching, 
until their anxiety was changed into another 
course by the destruction of their meeting- 
house by a forest fire. The buildinij stood near 



"Chester corner" upon land belonging to the 
homestead of James Weston. The outlines of 
some of the sunken mounds in the old graveyard 
are still to be seen, though a heavy growth long 
since covered the sacred precinct. The road from 
Londonderry to Amoskeag mentioned elsewhere 
passed a short distance to the northeast. 

As if the grantees of Tyng township had not 
met with obstacles and reverses enough to dis- 
courage less determined settlers, ten years after 
the loss of their grant the charter of Derryfield 
took from them their last hope of receiving recog- 
nition from any source. With this dire extremity 
threatening them, a meeting of the proprietors 
was called at the house of Jonas Clark, Chelmsford, 
Mass., Jan. 21, 1751, when it was decided to appeal 
to the Massachusetts courts for relief. Accord- 
ingly a lengthy petition was presented to that body 
setting forth in detail their grievances, in which it 
was claimed over two thousand pounds had been 
spent in public improvements, beside the charges 
of settlement : 

That Soon after the arivaU of Goven' Wentworth and 
Hearing the Defeat of our Petition the Towns of Londonderry 
and Chester obtained orders from y'= Gov' of N. Hamp' For 
Running out their Bounds according to their Charters which 
being Done it was found that the S'' Tyngstown fell all to a trifle 
into the S'' Towns, their meeting house Sawmill and the Setlers 
being Included in them, which Towns Immediately Demanded 
the Possession and Entered Themselves .... 

That your Petitioners thereupon Advised with many of the 
principal Gentlemen of this Government as well as the best 
Councell in the Law they Could Obtain and were Incouraged to 
Dispute their Property in the Law which they have Done in the 
most Effectual method they Could and have been Harrased 
allmost every Court from the year 1742 to this day and the said 
Towns of Londonderry & Chester has Recovered the Possession 
& Turned out F,very one who has had a final trial Excepting 
one who for Some Special Reasons Peculiar to That Case did 
Obtain The Remainder of the .Sellers Seeing their Distressed 
Circumstances and no way for Releif have Either deserted their 
Habitations or Compounded and ])urchased at an unreasonable 
and Severe Price, have Little for their own Labour, Excepting 
on who is Yet in the Dispute, which Troubles in the Defence of 
their Rights has Cost them thousands of pounds Exclusive of 
their Much greater Charges in Buildings and Improvements and 
now are Obliged to give over the Expectation of its Ever being 
any benefit to them 

April 17, I 75 1, this petition bore its fruit in a 
grant of the township of Wilton, Me., to the 
proprietors of Tyng township. 



THE OLD CHURCH AT THE CENTER. 



M'^-^-::: 



ENTION is made in the article on the 
gstown grant of the church built hy the 
Puritans of the Merrimack valley at what was 
known as Chester Corners, but there was another 
meeting-house that is of greater importance in the 
early history of Manchester. While there are no 
official records to show it, preaching, if in a some- 
what desultory manner, was no doubt maintained 
all through the trying period of the early coloniza- 
tion of the territory which later comprised the 
town of Derrytield. Immediately following its 
incorporation, Nov. 26, 1751, a special town meet- 
ing voted twenty-four pounds, old tenor, for 
preaching. The following year one hundred 
pounds was raised, which, considering the small 
amount of available money at that time, was no 
mconsiderable tax. At a special meeting held 
July 20. 1752, it w^as voted that the " Placieses of 
Publick Worship be held at Banjamien Stivens 
and William McClintos the first Sabouth, at 
Banjamien Stivenes and the ni.xt at William 
McClintos and so sabouth about till the nixt town 
meetien." Again, Feb. 2, 1753, at a special meet- 
ing held in Benjamin Stevens's barn, it was voted 
that " the above barn and that of William McClin- 
to's be the places of publick worship till the money 
voted at last March meeting be expended. Voted 
that the minister be kept at William McClinto's." 
At a special meeting, Sept. 5, 1754, it is recorded : 
" Voted that ye Meeting House for publick wor- 
ship in Derryfield be built upon the Public Road as 
is mentioned in ye second artickle of ye warrant." 
The article referred to stated " by the Side of 
the Highway that leads from Londonderry to 
Amoscheeg Falls, some place betwixt William 
McClintok's and James Murphy's." It imme- 
diately became apparent that this location was not 
satisfactory to many of the inhabitants of the 
town, and under date of Feb. 3, 1755, a petition 
signed by thirty voters was given the selectmen to 
call a special meeting " to reconsider the vote of 
locating the meeting house and raising money for 
building said house." This the selectmen refused 
to do, when recourse was obtained by the dissatis- 
fied party through the court of the province. 
Constable Benjamin Hadley of Derryfield was 



enjoined to issue a warrant for a meeting, which 
was held March i, 1755, and resulted in a repeal 
of the vote to build and locate a meeting-house. 
March 30, 1758, at a special meeting held in John 
Hall's barn, it was voted " to pay Conol John 
Goffe sixtey poundes old tenor to pay the Revernt 
Binjimen Buteler for priching. Voted to pay 
Revernt Samuel McClintock Sevin poundes old 
tenor for priching in the year 1 756." These are 
the first ministers whose names are mentioned in 
the old records as preaching in the town. 

The ne.xt definite action taken toward securinsf 
a place of worship was at a special meeting held 
Sept. 21, 1758, when it was voted to build a meet- 
ing-house that year. It is further recorded: 

Voted to build the meetien Houes on John Hall's land 
joyening the road leading to Thomas Hall's ferry and the 
Ammacheag Falls. 

Voted to raise six hundred poundes to carry on the build- 
ing the said meetien Houes. 

Voted to raiese said meetien Houes fortey feet in lenth 
thirtey five feet in Brenth. 

Voted, Capt. William Perham and Levt Hugh Stirlen and 
John Hall ye commitey to carey on the builden of above said 
Meetien Houes. 

The Presbyterians had carried their point, but 
while they were able to outvote their Puritan 
rivals, they found the collecting of taxes for the 
purpose they designed not so easy a matter. The 
Puritans were not against building a church, but 
they excused themselves from helping toward this 
one by saying that the location did not suit them. 
Underneath this were other reasons. Many of 
them had not forgotten that they had received no 
assistance from the others when they had built a 
meeting-house, as described in the article on the 
TyngstowMi grant, and tried to settle a minister. 
Thus some refused point blank to pay their church 
taxes ; others did what was even more exasperating 
by dallying in their pavment, putting off the col- 
lector from time to time with weak excuses. A 
part were to pay in labor, others in lumber, and 
the one was as difficult to obtain as the other. 
But in some manner the building was framed and 
raised, for under date of July 15, 1759, we find it 
recorded : 



23 



24 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Voted to colect five Hundred Poundes toward Borden and 
Shingelen of our meetien Houes, said souni to be taken out of 
the six Hundred poundes, new tenor, that was voted in the year 
1S58 for builden the above said meetien Houes. 

Voted Cajit. William Perham and Levt Hugh Stirlin and 
John Hall a comitey to spend the five Hundred poundes old 
tenor towards Borden and Shingeling the meetien Houes. 

Voted that John Hall apply to the Gentlemen that have 
land not cultivated or improved in Derryfield, for money to help 
us in builden our meetien Houes in said town. 

Voted that whoever pays any money to the above said 
meetien Houes shall have their names and the sums of money 
they pay recorded in Derryfield town Book of Records. 

As if the building committee did not have 
enough to contend with otherwise, it was finally 
claimed by the opposing party that they had mis- 
appropriated such funds as they had obtained. 
Accordingly a committee of investigation was 
chosen, but no irregularity seems to have been 
discovered. It was, however, voted at a meeting 
No\^ 15, 1759, to record the six hundred pounds 
collected in 1758 and whatever more might be 
collected. At the same meeting it was voted not 
to underpin the house that year, and to make one 
door. It l)eing so difficult to collect the funds, 
the building committee was empowered to hire the 
necessary money, until it should be paid by the 
inhabitants. In that way the debts which had 
been incurred were paid, Aug, 11, 1760, it was 
voted that "The Secelet-men are to under pien the 
sd. meetien-houes and put 2 dowers one ye a forsd. 
houes cSi. Cloes the windowes and Wan Dorr," 
Dec, 15, 1760, at a special meeting, a ccjmmittec 
was chosen to examine John Hall's accounts con- 
cerning the church money, and there the records 
end for that year. June 29, 1761, it was " Voted 
to repir the meetien houes this year sow fare as to 
shout oupe all the uper windows and the West 
and east dowers & make a rofe dower one ye 
sowthe sied and under pin sd houess this cor- 
rent year." 

If the finishing of the house progressed but 
slowly, the quarrel was rapidly growing more 
personal and bitter. April 2, 1764, the opposition 
finding themselves with a majority at the meeting, 
voted not to raise aay money for preaching that 
year. In October of the same year they went a 
step farther and voted to apply all money that 
might be in the hands of the church committee 



toward paying the town debt. The following year, 
at the annual meeting, March 4, the other side 
rallied and voted more money for preaching than 
ever. This, instead of bringing the factions 
together, widened the breach between them. 
Both parties prepared for a stubborn fight at the 
annual election the next year, and the result, as 
shown in the chapter on Civil and Political his- 
tory, was demoralizing in the extreme. It proved, 
however, that the Presbyterian element was not 
utterly routed, for at a special meeting, June 27, 
1766, it was "Voted to repair the meetien houes 
in part this year. Voted to lay a good floor in the 
meetien houes and shout upe the ounder windows 
and acommadate the meetien houes with forms 
sutable to sit on," 

Excitement had now reached its height. The 
better minds of both elements had begun to see 
the evil results of their long contention for selfish 
ends. The last real partisan vote that appears on 
the records is that at the special meeting held 
Dec. 22, 1766, when it was voted not to raise any 
money for preaching. The following annual 
election showed a compromise in the make-up of 
the town officers, and a more quiet if not knidlier 
feeling prevailed in the matter of the church. 
John Hall, who had been prominent in the long 
controversy, retired for a time from positions of 
public trust. It was not found that he had mis- 
used any of the town's money and that subject 
was dismissed. In fact, so great a calm had 
fallen upon the troubled waters that the matter of 
the meeting-house, which had caused so many 
special meetings and fills so many pages of the 
town's records, drops almost entirely out of sight. 
Then, when their civil rights as well as their 
religious liberties were assailed by a foreign enemy, 
those who had been natural rivals became natural 
allies in a cause that affected them all alike, until 
the inhabitants of Derryfield became united as 
mifjht not otherwise have been. 

Nothinsr was done for the old meeting-house 
and very little for preaching during the Revolu- 
tion. The building fell into a sad state of dilapi- 
dation, until in 1783 the town voted one hundred 
dollars for repairs, and again the following year 
fifty dollars more. In 1 790 an effort was made to 
raise money to finish the building by selling "pew 



WILLErs BOOK OP NUTFIELD. 



^i 



ground." A sale was made at a public auction 
June 22, 1790, which netted £-Xib iis. The pews 
were built at once, and the lower story was at last 
"finished." Attention then was turned to llie 
upper part of the house, and on March 5, 1792, 
it was " \'oted to rase fortey dollars to repair 
Meeting House. Voted that the Slectmen lay 
out the Money to Build the Gallery Stares and 
Lay the Gallery flores." These votes were carried 
out, and an auction sale of pew ground in the 
gallcrv was made Nov. 10, but the purchasers 
never built, and the upper story remained in an 
unfinished condition. And here the written 
record virtuallv closes. 

The meeting-house, which had been the 
object of manv a bitter discussion, which had kept 



many a desirable citizen out of Derryfield, and 
which had been a dark spot on its history, was 
suffered to remain unfinished, though, as hereto- 
fore, meetings were held within its walls as often as 
found convenient, and there the voters were wont 
to gather at the polls year after year, until finally 
the settlement near the river had become of so 
much importance that it was decided to build a 
hall and hold the town meetings "in the villasfe 
on the river." Accordingly a building at the 
latter place was begun in ;84i, and finished two 
years later, when the old meeting-house was 
abandoned. After standing empty ten years it 
was sold at public auction, and moved a short dis- 
tance and converted into a tenement-house, which 
is still standing-. 




CIJNCORD SrREET, MANCHESTER. 1S85, 



26 



W ILLEl ■' .S B O OK O F XL ^TFIEL D 



HON. MACE MOULTON, son of Henry and York, but a native of New Hampshire, and many 

Susan Moulton, was born in East Concord others. Although politically at variance with 

May 2, 1796. Holding the theory that boys are some of his new found friends, foundations were 

better throughout life for having learned a trade, laid in Washington for friendships which existed 

his parents apprenticed him to a house carpenter, during the remainder of his life. During his con- 

with whom he served six years. To this work he gressional term he ranged himself on the side of 

applied himself with vigor and attained a profi- economy and conservatism, and voted on questions 

ciency which would undoubtedly have resulted in which agitated the national legislature in a way 



which later develop- 
ments have proved 
to have been saga- 
cious and far seeing. 
He threw his influ- 
ence in favor of the 
admission of Texas 
as a state and the 
organization of a ter- 
ritorial government 
in Oregon, and did 
his best to have the 
W i 1 m o t Proviso, 
against slavery in 
anv territory which 
might be acquired 
by the United States 
in future time, passed 
with the three mil- 
lion loan bill enacted 
for settling the war 
with Mexico. It was 
during his term of 
office also that a new 
tariff bill was en- 
acted, during the dis- 
cussion of which his 
judgment counselled 
him to vote against 
some of his best per- 

until 1844, when he resigned and was elected sonal friends on certain questions, it being his 
representative to congress, serving during the nature to allow nothing to interfere with his con- 
stirring times of the Mexican War. During his victions as to what was right, and best for his 
occupancy of this office he gained the personal constituents. In 1847, on his return from Wash- 
friendship of Webster, Pierce, and Hamlin, and a ington, Mr. Moulton was elected a member of the 
close acquaintance with many who afterward governor's council and served two years. He also 
became noted in the history of the nation, notably filled many official positions in the town of Bed- 
Houston of Texas, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, ford. In 1849 he moved to Manchester, where 
Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, James Buch- he lived during the remainder of his life, 
aaan of Pennsylvania, John A. Dix of New Between 1847 and 1849, on the urgent appeals of 



numerous monu- 
ments of his skill 
had he followed the 
trade, as, at even this 
early period of life, 
he was actuated by 
the principle of doing 
well whatever he at- 
tempted. In 181 7, 
vv^hen but twenty-one 
years of age, he was 
appointed deputy 
sheriff of Hillsboro' 
county, and he re- 
sided for a few 
months at Pembroke. 
Six months after his 
appointment he 
moved to Piscata- 
quog, then a part of 
Bedford. He served 
as deputy sheriff with 
honor to himself and 
usefulness to the 
business men for a 
period of twentv- 
three years, until 
1840, when he was 
elected high sheriff. 
He held that office 




HO.N'. MACE MO U Li UN. 



WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTJJELD. 



27 



the prominent men of both political parties, he heart manv men in need had ample proofs, 

ai^ain became deputy sheriff, and served for several Young men, cramped in their business relations, 

years. Both as sheriff and as deputy he is seldom appealed to him in vain if he saw that they 

acknowledged to have had no superior in integrity had the enterprise and ability, with a little aid, to 

and intelligence. He understood the law and the carry out their plans. As a statesman, Mr. Moul- 

duties of the office thoroughly, and was prompt, ton was a Jeffersonian Democrat of the old school, 

humane, and honest in its execution. As a clear- and had the highest reverence for the Constitu- 

headcd, thinking man, fully abreast if not ahead tion and the Union as established by the fathers. 



of the times, he early 
discovered how much 
time and money were 
wasted in the old 
forms of " red tape," 
and in consequence 
he originated new 
forms for the returns 
on sheriffs' writs and 
other important im- 
provements in the 
transaction of the 
routine business of 
that office. He hated 
duplicity and politi- 
cal c u n n i n g, and 
never sought office; 
in his later years he 
had a decided dis- 
taste for it. He was 
often proposed as a 
candidate for mayor, 
and on the death of 
Hon. Levi Wood- 
bury during his can- 
didacy for governor 
of the Granite State, 




RUFUS H. PIKE. 



During his long and 
happy domestic life 
there were born to 
him and his wife, Dol- 
ly Gould (Stearns) 
Moulton, whom he 
married in 1822, one 
daughter, Eliza Jen- 
nie, and two sons, 
Henry DeWitt and 
Charles L u c i a n 
Moulton. The last 
named died March 
10, 1858 ; Henry's 
death occurred Dec. 
21, 1893 ; Eliza died 
Oct. 22, 1895. Mr. 
Moulton passed away 
March 5, 1867, at 
the age of seventy- 
one, after a short 
illness, and his wife, 
who survived him, 
died Sept. 21, 1879. 
The only grandchild 
was Mace Moulton, 
son of Henry De- 
Witt Moulton. He 
was educated in the 



a committee waited 
on Mr. Moulton to 

ascertain if he would accept the nomination for public schools of Manchester, and later graduated 

governor, but he peremptorily declined. He was at Dartmouth College in the Thayer School of 

a director of the Amoskeag bank and president of Civil Engineering in 1878. Since then, after 

the Amoskeag Savings bank, which position he travelling extensively over the L'nited States, he 

held at the time of his death. His mind was has settled in Springfield, A'Jass., as manager and 

strong and active, and what his judgment told him chief engineer of one of the largest iron and bridge 

was right he believed in. He was a model for manufacturing establishments in New Enijland. 

promptness and reliability and exact integrity in 

all business relations, and his word was never D UFUS H. PIKE, the fourtii child and eldest 

(luestioned. He might have been called stern and i^ son of Eber and Mary C. (Dakin) Pike, was 

severe at times, l)ut of his overflowing kindness of born in Londondcrrv Oct. 25, 1829. Before he 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



was three years old his mother died, leaving his to its interests. April 9, 1857, he was united in 

father with a family of five children. In 1833 the marriage to S. Elizabeth Balch. In 1874 and 

family moved to Mont Vernon and lived there 1875 he was president of the common council, 

until the spring of 1837, when they moved to At the time of his death, he was treasurer of the 

Bedford. There the boy attended the district local and the state plumbers' associations, and 

school until he was sixteen years old, being, in the these organizations, with the exception of the 

meantime, employed on the farm, toiling early and Amoskeag Veterans, of which he was an honorary 

late to assist his father in caring for the family, member, were the only ones with which he was 



That year he left 
home and worked on 
a farm for two years, 
attending school win- 
ters. During the 
spring of 1847 he 
went to Bangor, Me., 
where he was em- 
ployed by an uncle on 
cabinet work foravcar 
and a half. In the 
winters of 1848 and 
1 849 he went to school 
in P e m b r o k c. I n 
March, 1849, he came 
to Manchester to en- 
ter the employ of 
Hartshorn, Darling 
& Tufts, copper, brass, 
and iron workers, and 
in 185S he became a 
member of the firm, 
which was changed 
to Hartshorn t^ Pike. 
Ut\der this name they 
did business until Mr. 
Hartshorn's death, 
when another change 




ever identified. Mr. 
Pike was never an 
aspirant for political 
honors and never 
sought public service. 
To his own private 
business he gave his 
energies and undi- 
vided attention, and 
with that he was con- 
tent, and his life work 
lirought him ample 
recompense. He was 
ever the soul of honor 
and integrity. His 
word was never chal- 
lenged and he lived 
without an enemy, 
and left no stain or 
blot upon his noble 
record. He is sur- 
vived by his widow and 
daughter, Florence 
M., wife of Willis B. 
Kendall. The accom- 
panying portrait is 
from an ink drawing 
bv H. W. Herrick. 



JOHN HAPGOOD MAYNAKD. 



was made, and Charles 

N. Heald became the 

junior partner. In 1891, still another change was JOHN HAPGOOD MAVNARD, son of Asa 
brought about by the death of Mr. Heald. Later ^ and Mary (Linfield) Maynard, was born in 
a corporation was formed bearing the name of the Concord, Mass., Jan. 23, 1804. His father, who 
Pike & Heald Companv, of which Mr. Pike was recollected the days of the Revolution, died in 
president and treasurer. For forty-six years he May, 1874, at the age of ninety-seven years. In 
gave his energies to the business, which, under his 1809 his parents removed to Loudon, N. H., and 
management, steadily increased, new departments here John worked on the farm until he was four- 
being added from time to time as they were teen years old, when he was apprenticed for seven 
required, and at the time of his death, which years to learn the carpenter's trade. He was placed 
occurred Jan. 8, 1895, he was still actively devoted in charge of the erection of several important 



WIL LEI'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



29 



l)uildings in Concord while he was still an appren- 
tice. Having served his apprenticeship, he soon 
after went into business on his own account. 
He foresaw the rapid development of Manches- 
ter and took up his permanent residence here in 
1836, having previously done work for the Amos- 
kcag company as early as 1833. He built for this 
corporation mills Nos. 3, 4, and 5, besides numer- 
ous tenements, etc., and continued in their employ 
as contractor for more than thirty years, often hav- 
ing in his service nearly a hundred men at a time. 
All his affairs prospered, and he was able, while 
still comparatively young, to amass a competency. 
In politics Mr. Maynard was a Republican. He 
was a member of the common council in 1859-60, 
and of the board of aldermen in 1861-62, and 
again in 1879, '80, '81, and '82. He also served in 
tlie general court for one term. Always taking 
an active interest in lire department matters, lie 
was chief engineer for several years. Elected a 
director of the Manchester National bank in 1854, 
he continued in that capacity until his decease, a 
period of forty years. Mr. Maynard was chosen 
the first assessor after the incorporation of the 
city of Manchester, and his knowledge of real 
estate values in the city was for many years 
remarkably thorough and complete. Of a sympa- 
thetic and benevolent nature, his benefactions were 
numerous, and no deserving case was ever laid 
before him in vain. He was plain, frank, and 
iionest in ail his dealings, he hated shams and 
humbugs, and he was never proud of being called 
rich. It was said that at one time he owned land 
in thirty different towns, but he still lived as simply 
and as unostentatiously as when he began the 
struggle of life. In March, 1837, Mr. Maynard 
married Jane Kimball of East Concord. She died 
thirty years later, and he married her cousin, 
Aphia Kimball of Hopkinton, who survives him. 
He passed quietly away May 6, 1894, at the 
advanced age of ninety years. In his religious 
belief Mr. Maynard was a Universalist. 



DEV. WILLIAM SHERBURN LOCKE, 
A ^ who for many years has resided in the south- 
ern part of Manchester, just below the settlement 
known as Bakersville, was born in Stanstead, 
Province of Quebec, April 28, 1808. He is still 



erect in form, and active and alert, although on 
account of impaired sight he is somewhat restricted 
in his business and social intercourse. For quite a 
number of years he has sustained a local relation 
to the church of his first love, but even now his 
enthusiasm is contagious as he recounts the early 
charges and the circuits which he travelled in the 
saddle as an itinerant, from appointment to 
appointment, over regions of country many miles 
in extent. He is of the sixth generation in direct 
descent from the old Indian fighter, Capt. John 
Locke of Rye, who paid the penalty of his prowess 
by being ambushed and killed while reaping his 
grain on what is now known as Straw's Point, then 
Locke's Neck. One of the savages sacrificed his 
nose in the encounter, the old captain cutting it 
off with his grain sickle, which is now preserved 
in the rooms of the New Hampshire Historical 
Society. One of the captain's grandsons, Edward, 
moved to Kensington, where his son Moses was 
born. Moses removed to Epsom, from which 
place he enlisted under Gen. Stark, and took part 
in the battle of Bunker Hill and other engage- 
ments, in one of which a bullet pierced his hat ; 
in another battle his coat was struck by a ball, and 
his gunstock was siiot off. P^or his services in the 
Revolutionary War he received a sum of money 
which he paid out for a pair of yearling heifers 
after he returned home. His son James, father of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in Epsom, and 
remained there until he was twenty-one years of 
age, when he entered the shipping firm of Daven- 
port Brothers of Newburyport. While in their 
service he visited England and later went on a 
vessel which carried the first cargo of shingles to 
Federal City, as Washington, D. C, was then 
called. The shingles were for use on the govern- 
ment buildings, then in process of construction. He 
remained in \^irginia for some time, but the 
opinion he formed of the practice of slavery 
deterred him from settling in that section, and 
when his mother wrote him of the death of one 
brother by yellow fever in the W^est Indies, and 
the departure of another on a cruise, he acceded 
to her request and returned home, becoming a 
partner with his brother Jonathan in trade. In 
1800 he married Miss Abigail Sherburn, a native 
of Pt)rtsmouth, and settled in the town of 



3° 



WILLE1"S BOOK OP NUTmELD. 



Stanstead, Canada, just over the line from Derby, up but a few dollars over and above the cost of 
Vt. Here he took up a farm, and here his son food, lodging and horse baiting, and as the result 
William S. was born. of a whole year's labor, Mr. Locke recalls the pair 

While quite young, Sherburn, as he was of shag mittens — the only thing received except- 
called, learned the leather dresser's trade, finishing ing $2, which he earned by helping in the hayfield. 
his apprenticeship in Danvers, Mass., and before The money collected was willingly given to his 
he was twenty-one he had charge of a shop in senior laborer, a man with a family. 
Barton, Vt. While there he was converted, Mr. Locke's first experience in Manchester 

joined the Methodist 
church, and was led 
to leave his secular 
occupation in order 
to obtain a more ad- 
vanced education. 
Entering Browning- 
ton Academy, he re- 
mained under Rev. 
Mr. Twilight's instruc- 
tion until his health 
failed, and by the ad- 
vice of a physician he 
came near the sea air 
and entered the acad- 
emy at H a m p t o n. 
After the recovery of 
his health he was 
intending to return 
to Vermont, but on 
the way, stopping to 
attend a scries of 
meetings in North- 
field, he was emplovcd 
as assistant laborer on 
the circuit consisting 
of Northfield, San- 
bornton, Canterbury, 
Gilmanton, Meredith, 
and Franklin, and 




REV. WILLIAM S. LOCKE. 



was in 1832, when he 
was regularly ap- 
pointed by the con- 
ference of NewHamp- 
shire ami \"crmont, 
then one body, to the 
circuit comprising 
Amoskeag, Amherst, 
and Nashua. He re- 
members crossing the 
river on stringers laid 
from rock to rock, to 
view the wonderful 
mechanism of the 
locks and visit friends 
on the east side. At 
this time the Method- 
ists, Congregational- 
ists, Baptists, and Uni- 
versalists held ser- 
vices altcrnatelv in 
the corporation hall 
at Amoskeag and in 
the schoolhouse. Mr. 
Locke's first attend- 
ance at a public meet- 
ing in Manchester 
was at the ordination 
of Rev. Mr. Foster, 
a Congregationalist, 



here he spent the first nine months in the ministrv, which was held at the Methodist church at the 

with Benjamin C. Eastman, preacher in charge. Centre, now known as the First M. E. church. 

At the close of the ne.xt conference he received a Mr. Foster was allowed to use it half the tune, 

local preacher's licence at Sanbornton Bridge, the Methodists using it the other half. This was 

John F. Adams presiding elder. In those days the only church building in Manchester at that 

the Methodist itinerants were solemnlv adjured to time. During this appointment Mr. Locke suc- 

frequent no public houses, but to look to the ceeded in obtaining the use of the court house in 

brethren, as the laity were called, to provide for Amherst for the Sabbath services, which was con- 

their needs, and simple and inexpensive was the sidered a signal achievement, as hitherto the 

clergyman's outfit, A year's income would count Methodists had received no greater favor than the 



WILLErs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



3» 



use of a schoolhouse on the outskirts of the town, 
and in 1S46 ground was broken for the First 
M. E. church in Nashua. 

Aug. 27, 1833, he came from Merrimack, 
across Reed's Ferry, to Manchester Centre, with 
his intended wife, Miss Caroline D. Tibbetts, and 
in the parsonage standing on the site of the 
present reservoir they were united in marriage by 
a dearly beloved friend, Silas Green, pastor of that 
charge, and proceeded on their way to the home 
of the bride's father in Pittsfield, stopping at 
Head's tavern in Hooksett for their wedding 
supper. After two years' pastoral work on Epping 
circuit and at Chichester, Mr. Locke was again 
summoned to Manchester to fill the appointment 
where he had begun his married life, and one day 
in 1835, he drove with his wife and little daughter, 
si.x weeks old, to the door of Nathan Johnson, 
who entertained them until the settling arrange- 
ments could be perfected. Mr. Johnson is still 
a resident of that section. Mr. Locke's pastoral 
labors were very successful, there being a large 
number of accessions to the church the first year. 
After having labored in Strafford and Harrington, 
N. H., and Wilmington, Wardsboro' and Brattle- 
boro', Vt., he returned to this section and preached 
a year and a half at South Merrimack and 
Amherst, after which, by request of the presiding 
elder, he supplied the city church, now St. Paul's, 
from Jan. i, 1842, until conference. This congre- 
gation then occupied a chapel which stood on the 
site of the present government building, and here 
a series of meetings was held which resulted in a 
revival of great interest. During this time the 
foundation of St. Paul's church was laid on Elm 
street and preparations made for building. The 
following three years Mr. Locke was employed by 
the society at the Centre. Many churches at this 
time were more or less divided by the doctrine of 
the immediate second advent of Christ, and great 
excitement prevailed, but with a firm hand, level 
head, and sympathetic heart, Mr. Locke succeeded 
in keeping those under his care, and not a mem- 
ber was lost. Followinsr this charije, he went to 



Auburn, where he succeeded in putting a weak 
church on a firm basis, and also in improving his 
finances by judicious investment. By this time 
his children were reaching the age where he 
realized the importance of good schools and 
elevating surroundings, and hence, after mature 
deliberation, he decided to establish a home near 
Manchester. While studying in William Stark's 
law office, the eldest son, James W^., laid the foun- 
dation for his successful career as United States 
district judge in Florida. The second son, Joseph, 
fitted at Bridgewater for a life of teaching, but on 
the day of his graduation he enlisted in the 
Thirty-Third Massachusetts Regiment and served 
through the Civil War. He is now a manufac- 
turer in Chicago. The third son, Eugene O., a 
graduate at Dartmouth in the class of 1870, 
studied law with J. B. Clark of Manchester, and is 
now a successful attorney in Jacksonville, Fla. 
He is widely known throughout the southern part 
of that state, having made Key West and Tampa 
his headquarters for the past twenty years. The 
eldest and youngest of the children were daugh- 
ters : Mary Frances, now Mrs. Charles H. Bart- 
lett, whose husband is connected with the Ports- 
mouth navy yard, resides at Kittery, Me. ; her son, 
Charles Carroll, has entered the law and settled in 
Chicago. The youngest daughter, Izetta, has 
been for many years connected with the public 
schools of Manchester. The mother of the 
family was noted among her associates as a woman 
of superior acquirements. In the midst of her 
varied duties as mother, pastor's wife, and social 
leader, she was a constant reader, and the director 
of her children's studies, and she also wrote much 
for the local press over the signature of "Aunt 
Carlie." She died Feb. 14, 1893. 

Mr. Locke, now nearly eighty-eight years of 
age, likes to recount the fact that he has preached 
the gospel in about sixty different places, and that 
he has been enabled to save to active work ten 
churches which were unprovided for by the con- 
ference, succeeding in every case in putting them 
on a firm working basis for regular pastoral care. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



I EWIS SIMONS, son of Christopher and 
L^ Nancy (Locke) Simons, was born Aug. 12, 
181 5, and was educated in the district school at 
Oil Mills and at Henniker Academy, being a class- 
mate of ex-Gov. Harriman at the latter institution. 
After leaving the academy he taught school in his 
own and other districts with marked success for 
five winters, and also worked at farming, lumber- 
ing, and in his father's 
sawmill. In 1842 he 
went into trade, but 
not finding it con- 
genial to his tastes, 
he sold his store in 
1845 to his brother 
George, and formed 
a partnership with 
his brother I liram in 
the lumber business, 
which was very suc- 
cessful. In 1S53 he 
disposed of his in- 
terest in the firm 
and removed to Man- 
chester, where he 
profitably conducted 
the same business 
with various partners 
until his death, which 
occurred Oct. 6, iSq5. 
He was more than 
usually successful 
and fortunate. His 
judgment in estiniat- 
inof values, his tlior- 
ough knowledge of 
all the details of lewis 

working and sawing 

lumber, his executive ability and personal devotion 
to the management of his business, together with 
his sagacity and prudence in putting his merchan- 
dise upon the market at the right time, or in 
holding it until a better market would insure its 
full value, won for him an enviable reputation and 
much wealth. He also engaged extensively in 
building operations, and Mercantile block, Music 
Hall block, and Webster block in Manchester, 
built by himself and others, arc among the best in 



the city. Mr. Simons was never an ambitious 
politician or office seeker, but served the city as 
alderman, and was once the candidate of his party 
for mayor, failing however, of election because his 
party was in the minority. For many years he 
was a prominent member of the Universalist 
society, but he later attended the Unitarian church, 
and was president of its board of trustees. Early 

in life Mr. Simons 
was a member of the 
volunteer militia of 
Weare, and subse- 
quently he served 
with distinction in 
the Goffstown light 
infantry and in a rifle 
c o m p a n y. Every 
year until the dis- 
banding of the state 
militia he performed 
active military duty, 
serving in every rank 
of the line, and he 
was one of the or- 
ganizers of the Amos- 
keatj Veterans, be'nsr 
a valued and efficient 
member of that or- 
ganization and hold- 
ing every o ffi c e 
within its gift. P"or 
two years he was its 
c o m m a n d e r. M r. 
Simons's first wife 
was Hannah II., 
daughter of Charles 
SIMONS. Gove of Weare, and 

to them were born 
six children, Langdon, Almeda, and Minot living 
to maturity. Mrs. Simons died in January, i86r, 
and Mr. Simons was married to Mary J. Gilmore. 
After her death, in 18S6, he married Miss 
Grace A. Darling, Dec. 7, 1887. 




H 



ON. LUCIEN BONAPARTE CLOUGII, 
son of Joseph and Mehitable A. (Chase) 



Clou^h, was born in Northfield April 17, 182;; 



WJLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



33 



His sjreat-grandfather was Thomas Clough, who managed. Judge Clcugh was a lawyer of the old 

came from Salishiny, Mass., about 1750, and his school. lie disliked sensational or criminal cases, 

maternal grandfather was Stephen Chase of Haver- l)ut had a very large practice in settling estates 

hill, Mass. His father was born in Canterbury and in general civil court business. He was a man 

Feb. I, 1795, and his mother in Northficld April 7, whose word was as good as his bond, and by his 

1795. In Noveml)er, 1856, he was united in mar- own sterling integrity and strict attention to the 

riage with Maria Louise Dole, in Augusta, Me. needs of his clients, he accumulated a handsome 

Her fathLT, Albert Gallatin Dole, was born at property. In early life he was a member of the 

Alna, Mc., Sept. 8, 1808, and her mother, Rebecca Freewill Baptist church, but in later years he 



Cobb Ford, was born at 
Jefferson, Me., July 20, 
18 1 2. On her mother's 
side Mrs. Clough is a 
descendant of John 
and Elizabeth Tilly 
Howland, both of 
whiim came over in 
the Mayflower, and 
among her paternal 
ancestors were the 
Carltons and Doles, 
ancient families of 
Cumberland and So- 
merset counties, Eng- 
land. The subject of 
this sketch attended 
the schools of Can- 
lcrl)urv until 1841, 
when he went to a 
seminary in North 
Scituate, R. I. In 
1845 he entered the 
New Hampshire Con- 
ference Seminary at 
Tilton, and five years 
later he graduated at 
Dartmouth College. 

In 1S50 he went to Troy, N. V., where he remained shunned public life, preferring to enjoy his library, 
three years, and in 1853 he came to Manchester and his home, and his family. He is survived by his 
opened a law office, which he conducted up to the wife, and two children, Rebecca Louise, born Dec. 
time of his death, which occurred July 28, 1895. 16, 1863, now the wife of S. L. Whipple of Brook- 
llc was judge of probate of Hillsborough county line, Mass., and Albert Lucien, born June 24, 1869, 
from 1874 to 1876, and he served as trustee of the now a well known electrical engineer of Manchester, 
city lil)rary for many years. In his long career as a 

lawyer of more tiian forty years he was exceedingly r^AVID P. PERKINS was born in Meredith, 
exact and conscientious in all his dealings. Many of Ly now Laconia, Jan. 29, 18 10, a son of Deacon 
his clients placed in his care important trusts and Josiah Perkins, a native of Newmarket, and Lydia 
estates, which were always carefully and successfully (Sanborn) Perkins, born in Exeter Feb. 17, 1773. 




LUCIEN B. CLOUGH. 



attended Grace Epis- 
copal church. He was 
a member of Wash- 
ington Lodge of Ma- 
sons, a director in the 
Amoskeag National 
bank, a trustee of the 
Amoskeag Savings 
bank, and a charter 
member of the Board 
of Trade. Charitable 
enterprises al ways 
found in him a liberal 
friend and valued ad- 
viser. Judge Clough 
was a man of broad cul- 
ture, of rare literary 
ability, possessing an 
unusual acquaintance 
with the classics and 
the standard works of 
several languages. He 
had a strong taste for 
historical study, and 
had spent considerable 
time in gathering val- 
uable data for a history 
of Canterbury. He 



34 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



He was descended from John Perkins, Sr., who 
came to this country from Bristol, England, in 
1631, in the same ship with Roger Williams, and 
settled in what is now Ipswich, Mass. His 
mother's emigrant ancestor was Rev. Stephen 
Bacheler, who came to America in 1632 and 
settled near what is now Hampton. In his boy- 
hood he recited to Dudley Leavitt, the founder of 
Leavitt's Farmers' Almanac. In the spring of 
1826 he entered the New Hampton Academy as a 
student, where he remained two terms. He then 
sought employment in Boston to secure means 



"t Ifc. 



^^ 



**iWV ■ 




DAVID P. PERKINS. 



for further instruction, where he was introduced 
to Dr. Francis Wayland, who was about to enter 
upon the presidency of Brown University. He 
accompanied Dr. Wayland to Providence, lived in 
his familv, and recited to him daily for six months. 
He then returned to New Hampton in June, 1827, 
teaching school during the winter months, and 
graduated in the fall of 1830. Subsequently he 
taueht school in Maine, New Hampshire, and 
Massachusetts, and finally settled in Manchester in 
June, 1 84 1. He was the first male teacher in town. 
Owing to impaired health, he finally gave up 



teaching and purchased a bookstore, in connection 
with which he established a small circulating library. 
Meanwhile he studied law with Hon. George W. 
Morrison, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. 
He was special justice of the police court in 1848, 
and assistant clerk of the house of representatives 
in 184Q, '50, and '51. He was a law partner in 
Manchester with Hon. Moses Norris, then United 
States senator from this state, from 1849 to 1853; 
was appointed to a clerkship in the pension office 
in W^ashington in the latter year, and remained in 
the government service ten years. He was for 
several terms Master of B. B. French Lodge of 
Masons. 

On leaving Washington he resided in Hen- 
niker until 1869, when he returned to Manchester 
and practiced law in company with his son until 
1885, when he retired from active work. In 
Henniker he was Master of Aurora Lodge of 
Masons, and was a charter member and an officer 
of the Woods Chapter of that town. He won 
great favor in the government service by the 
skilful detection of forged bounty land claims, 
involving a large number of cases. He travelled 
extensively as a government agent through the 
south and southwest, as well as the northern and 
middle states, attending sessions of the United 
States court, in which, from first to last, he 
obtained thirty-six convictions and saved to the 
government about $3,000,000. Mr. Perkins was 
one of the original members of the first lodge of 
Odd Fellows organized in Manchester, Hills- 
borough Lodge No. 2, instituted Dec. 21, 1843. 
He was a pioneer in the matter of introducing 
vocal and instrumental music mto the public schools. 

He married Lydia C, daughter of Ebenezer 
and Betsey (Green) Lane of Pittsfield, June 26, 
1836, who died Oct. 13, 1838, leaving one son, 
David L. Perkins, born March 2, 1838. His 
second marriage was, April 16, 1839, to Mary 
Melissa, daughter of Col. Imri and Hannah 
(Patterson) Woods of Henniker, who died in this 
citv several years ago. His children by his 
second wife were : Lydia Melissa, born Feb. 16, 
1840, who died at the age of five years, and Mary 
Eliza, born May 24, 1841, who died in this city 
June 13, 1889. Mr. Perkins is a member of the 
People's Baptist church. 



PARKS AND COMMONS OF MANCHESTER, 



WHILE Manchester may well feel proud of 
her regular system of streets and her twin 
rows of shade and ornamental trees, she has even 
greater reason to rejoice over her liberal allotment 
of parks and commons. The wisdom of the early 
architects of the citv in providing against a 
crowded condition of the dwellings outside of the 
central portions can now be seen, while in no 
respect did thev show wiser forethought than in 



keag Manufacturing Company in 1839, before the 
first land sale, and deeded to the city in 1848, wnth 
the consideration that it should be surrounded by 
an iron fence within three vears. The fence has 
never been built, but it is presumed that the con- 
tract has been fulfilled in intent bv the laying of a 
granite curbing as a substitute. This common is 
well shaded, has beautiful walks, is provided with 
seats, and is a most delightful spot. Formerly 




MHRKl.MACK. LCJMMiJN, IKOM IDI' il. 1'.. Ml;.<l JM-, .l;l,(),. k. 



reserving for public benefit those little realms of 
nature amid the scenes of overcrowded tenement 
houses and business blocks. Manchester has now 
three parks and six commons, covering in all an 
area of 142.81 acres, which may be described as 
follows : 

Taken in the order in which they were laid 
out, Concord square, bounded by Amherst and 
Concord streets on the south and north respec- 
tively, antl I'inc and \'inc streets on the east and 
west, claims the precedence. This was ])lanned 
and reserved for a public resort by the Amos- 



there was a small pond near the centre, fed by 
Mile Brook, but this was filled in and a fountain 
now marks its site. Concord common contains 
4.48 acres and is valued at $200,000. 

Merrimack common, comprising 5.89 acres, 
valued at $200,000, is the largest in the city. Its 
deed of conveyance bears date of 1848, and its 
conditions have so far been filled that it is sur- 
rounded by the desired iron fence. Mr. Potter, 
describing these grounds in 1856, says: " This is 
a l)eautiful and picturesque common. Mile Brook 
passes through it, furnishing a beautiful pond in 



35 



36 



W'lLLErS BOOK OF XUTFIELD. 



its centre, while on the southeast part of it, a por- 
tion of the original forest remains, adding a cool 
and quiet shade from the scorching sun of summer. 
Brook trout originally abounded in this pond, Init 
the horned pout has driven them from it. The 
muskrat burrows in the banks of this square and 
their gambols in the water and upon its surface, 
of a moonlight evening, are among the pleasant 
features of this square." All this has changed in 
the forty years that have passed since the above 
was written ; the original trees have been sup- 
planted by others brought from a distance, mostlv 



beauty. Near the centre of this common stands 
the soldiers' monument, raised "in honor of the 
men of Manchester who gave their service in 
the war which preserved the union of the states 
and secured equal rights to all under the constitu- 
tion." This common is bounded on the east and 
west by Chestnut and Elm streets, and on the 
south and north by Central and Merrimack streets. 
Tremont common was deeded to the city 
Jan. 25, 1848, bv the same company as the others, 
and is doubtless the most pleasantly situated 
square in Manchester. It contains 2.25 acres and 




elms and maples, the muskrats and horned pouts 
have been killed or driven away ; the pond has 
been filled in with earth and a grass-grown surface 
now lies where erstwhile its waters shimmered in 
the sunlight; Mile Brook even has been buried its 
entire length. But if robbed of all these, Merri- 
mack common has beauties and attractions to take 
their places. Its network of concrete walks, run- 
ning at almost all angles, are bordered with rows 
of shade and ornamental trees, its well cared for 
lawns are carpeted throughout the summer with a 
rich, green, velvety sward that is unrivalled in 



is valued at $40,000. It has an iron fence around 
it, has concrete walks, a liberal number of hand- 
some shade trees and a fountain. Its boundary 
lines are Bridge street on the north. Union on the 
east, riicfh on the south, and I-*inc street on the 
Avest side. 

Hanover common, without curbing or fence, 
and lying between Hanover street on the south 
and Amherst on the north. Beech street on the 
cast and Union on the west, contains an even 
three acres, valued at $100,000. It was given to 
the city in 1852, when improvements were soon 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



37 



after begun. This square, too, until 1887, boasted 
of its pond made b\- daniming tiiat now lost stream, 
Mile Brook, whieh tlowed diagonally across it. 
With a gentle slope on all sides running down to 
the basin-like valley in its centre, its wide walks, 
i"^s profusion of ornamental trees and pleasant sur- 
roundings, a prettier or more restful spot so near 
the bustle and excitement of busy streets cannot 
well be found. 

Park common is of more recent improvement 
than the others, its shade trees are smaller and 
more scattering, its grassy carpet thinner, but 



south, and Coolidge avenue on the east and north, 
is the only public common across the river, as well 
as the youngest and smallest of the city squares. 
It will doubtless be improved at an early day, 
when it will l)ecome an attractive oasis in the 
midst of a working city. 

These comprise the public commons of Man- 
chester, there being several private grounds of 
greater or less extent, besides that open plot of 
over six acres belonging to the Amoskeag Manu- 
facturing Company's reservoir in the northeast 
part of the city. This reservoir is of sufficient 



VLAN OF 



MANCHESTER. N.H. 




somewhat elevated and very level, it is a glad 
breathing place to the many living in that vicinity. 
It was a gift of the Amoskeag Manufacturing 
Company, is surrounded by a granite curbing, has 
wide concrete walks and a fountain near the 
centre. It contains 3.49 acres and is valued at 
$60,000. It lies in nearly a perfect square, and is 
iiounded on the south l)y Cedar street, the west by 
Chestnut, the north by Lake avenue, and the east 
by Pine street. 

Simpson common, laid out in 1895, and con- 
taining .056 of an acre in a three-cornered shape, 
bounded by Beauport street on the west, Amory 



size to hold 11,000,000 gallons of water, which is 
pumped from the Merrimack. The enclosure is 
surrounded by a picket fence and high terrace. 
The grounds about the city reservoir at the Centre 
are also quite attractive, and afford a pleasant view 
of the surrounding country. 

Derryfield park, lying at an elevation that 
commands an extensive view of the country, has 
rapidly come into favor by those who have found 
opportunity to pass if but an hour within its 
retired domain. Its lioundaries arc the Mammoth 
road on the east, Bridge street on the south, 
Belmont on the west, and land of the Amoskeag- 



38 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Manufacturings Company on the north. An open 
tract comprising the western part affords a beau- 
tiful green with sloping sides, while the eastern 
portion is covered with its natural growth and 
retains its wildwood charms. A bicycle track has 
been built in the open grounds, and well made 
carriage drives and footpaths wind in and out of 
the pleasant retreat. Derryfield park contains 68 
acres, and is valued at $25,000. 

Stark park will ever be hallowed ground 



upper portion has been cleared and seeded down, 
while a fine carriage drive in the form of a half 
circle has been built, running from the southeast 
corner down near to the centre and thence to the 
northeast corner. The park has an area of 30 
acres and is valued at $9,000. The grave of the 
hero of Bennington is at the brink of the steepest 
part of the descent and on a summit tliat overlooks 
the Merrimack, a plain granite shaft marking the 
sacred spot. 




SOUTH MAIN STREET BRIDGE, MANCHESTER. 



to those who revere the memory of him who 
sleeps within its peaceful inclosurc. Sloping 
toward the westward, with a fringe of original 
growth at its lower edge, a delightful panorama 
of the Merrimack valley and its setting of hills is 
presented to the beholder, the "silver river" of 
the red man's joy cutting in twain the charming 
landscape. Though it has been only three years 
since improvements were commenced in this park, 
very much has already been done toward develop- 



ing and making accessible the grounds. 



The 



Oak Hill park, which might be considered an 
extension of Derryfield, is the latest candidate for 
public favor, and it promises from its picturesque 
situation and commanding view to become no 
mean rival. It was laid out in 1895 and comprises 
25.65 acres of wild land bordering upon the high 
service reservoir on this elevation. If from no 
other reason. Oak Hill park should be a favorite 
resort on account of the grand and far-reaching 
panorama of country here unfolded to the gaze of 
him who seeks its outlook. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN MANCHESTER, 



THE religion known as Christian Science 
has many adherents in Manchester. Those 
who profess this faith acknowledge one supreme 
God, and take the Scriptures for tlieir guide. 
They acknowledge the divinity of Christ and 
man as tiie divine image and likeness. They 
l)elievc that sin and suffering are not eternal. 
They hold the way of salvation, as demonstrated 
hv Jesus, to be the power of truth over all error, 
sin, sickness, and death. Their curative system 
is based on the metaphysical theory of the 
unrcalitv or non-e.xistencc of matter. The first 




.MRS 



-MARV F. I!ERRV. 



teacher and demonstrator of this religion in 
Manchester was Mrs. Mary F. Berry, C. S. D., 
a graduate of the Massachusetts Metaphysical 
College. One who knows Mrs. Berry well thus 
writes of her : 



She started the work in 1882. taught a few classes, and was 
the instrument through which some good cases of healing were 
jjerformeil. Hoping to learn more of this gospel of glad tidings, 
she removed to Boston for a time, but was sent back by Divine 
Love to carry on the work which she had begun in Manchester. 



She has labored indefatigal)ly for the U])l)uilding of this cause, 
and with her faithful stvidents organized, in 1894, the " First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, in this city, with twenty-three 
charter members. Mrs. Berry is a native of Hooksett, N. H., 
but early v\ent to Massachusetts, where for several years she 
was a successful dealer in dry and fancy goods in a suburb of 
Boston. Her parents were John H. and Mary G. Mitchell, and 
she is a descendant of the large family of Mitchells so well 
known in Manchester forty years ago. Mrs. Berry is a wcnirn 
of fine ]jresence and a fluent talker, and opponents of Chris- 
tian Science find her a close and logical reasoner. Unassumir" 
in manner, a true and generous friend, and a believer in 
"malice toward none and charity for all," it is evident that none 
but Divine Princi])le cliose her as a pioneer and standard bearer 
in the cause of Truth. 



The following account of the Christian 
Science movement has been |)rei)arcd for this 
work by Mrs. Berry: 



Scientific mind healing was discovered in i,S66 by Rev. 
Mary Baker Eddy, when she was supposed to be on the confines 
of that mysterious region whence one traveller only (Jesus) has 
returned. While earnestly praying that she might see every 
step of the way through the dark valley, it dawned upon her 
that death is but an incident in mortal existence which is 
abolished with the true understanding of Life or God. This 
light was sufficient to banish from her the gloomy cloud of 
death, and lias increased with years, enabling her to establish 
the most practical religion which the world has known since the 
days of Jesus the Christ. In its short life of thirty years it has 
made amazing progress, and its followers now have two hundred 
incorporated churches in the United States, while numerous 
detached bodies worship in a less formal manner. Next to the 
Bible the followers of Christian Science hold in reverence the 
book of faith which Mrs. Eddy [jublished in 1S75. It is called 
" Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures," and has 
reached its one hundredth edition of one thousand co])ies each. 
It is a key to the Gospel in the light of Christian knowledge as 
revealed to Mrs. Eddy. This religion has nearly as many fol- 
lowers in Euro])e as in America, and among these are persons 
of prominence in political, literary, and artistic life. The 
church which Mrs. Eddy founded in Boston is designated the 
Mother Church, and is considered the VINE, all other churclies 
of this faith being called the BR.\NCHES. The church edifice 
in Boston cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and was 
dedicated Jan. 6, 1895. Christian Scientists in all parts of this 
country and in other countries belong to this church, which lias 
now over 6,000 memliers. 

It is safe to aver that no other religion requires so com|)lete 
self-abnegation, or such |)urity of thought and life, as does 
Christian .Science, and no otlier has a more intelligent or 
enthusiastic following. 



39 



4° 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 




^ fttii 1^ 


^ F 


^ ^^^^. 


I 



MISS N. A. LEETE. 



MRS. MARY E. CLOUGH. 





MRS. MARY A. ROIilE. 



ERNEST TAYLOR. 



WIL LEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIRLD. 



41 



Miss N. A. Leete is a native of Shipton, 1'. Q., though the 
I ,ecte homestead is in Claremont, N. H. Her hfe has been full 
of vicissitudes. At the age of ten she went to Boston, and has 
ever since considered that city more than any other place her 
home. She passed some time in the South, and was in Rich- 
mond. Va., at the close of the Rebellion. Though a member 
of a Bai)tist church when she first became acc|uainted with 
Christian Science principles, the new religion commended itself 
so strongly to her, and the call of the Master was so urgent, that 
like Levi the publican, she left all, rose up, and followed Him. 
She took a patient before her first course of instruction was 
fuiishcd, and successfully treated the case. She says, " I have 
never since doubted the efficacy and power of Christian Science 
to heal in the degree in which it is understood and realized. 
Kleven years of practice have strengthened that conviction." 
Miss Leete's work as a healer, while in Manchester, was 
atteiuled with marked success, as her many jiatients will testify. 
Ill .VuL^ust. 1S95. as an advanced step in understanding, she 
removetl to Boston, where she is still engaged in Christian 
Science work. Her inde])endence of thought is coupled with 
great kindness of licart. and her many friends consider her in 
e\ ery sense of the word a strong woman. 

Mrs. Mary A. Robie, daughter of Moses B. and Angeline 
(Noyes) Harvey, is a native of Nottingham, N. H. Her advan- 
tages for education were confined to the district schools, but 
being a reader, observer, and thinker, she has acquired a fund 
of knowledge not furnished by the schools. In early life she 
united with the Advent church, believing and defending its 
doctrines and working for its advancement. When, however, her 
serious claims of sickness and suffering which materia medica 
had failed to relieve were destroyed through Christian Science, 
she accepted this move practical religion and became an ardent 
and self-sacrificing worker in the cau.'-e. Although a faithful 
wife and molher, she never allows family cares wholly to absorb 
her attention, but whenever an opportunity is jjresented she 
carries the Christ healing to those who need and will accept it. 
.Mrs. Robie is characterized by frankness and fearlessness of 
speech, supported by integrity and honesty of purpose, and she 
is eminently fitted by nature and experience for a staniling 
among C hristian Science workers. 

Mrs. Mary E. Clough. daughter of Ira and Susan ( Kidder) 
Emerton, is a native of Went worth. Her early opportunities 
for accpiiring an education were limited, but later in life she 
attended district schools and acatlemies, and finally graduated 
from the State Normal School at Salem, Mass., in the class of 
1872. The same year she accepted a situation in the jjublic 
schools in Cdoucester, where she taught several years. Though 
not strictly a woman of letters, her writings, both in prose and 
verse, have been published to some extent. Mrs. Clough is not 
an aggressive woman, but she has the courage of her convictions, 
and dares to stand up and be counted with a minority. 
Previous to her acquaintance with Christian Science she was a 
believer in the Universalist faith, and an enthusiastic worker in 
church and Sunday school. Since the light of Christian Science 
dawned in her consciousness she is able to say, with the dis- 
coverer and founder of Christian Science, " I am joyful to bear 
consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick." 



Krnest Taylor is the son of a farmer in Banffshire, Scotland. 
When sixteen years of age he left his home for the purpose of 
learning the trade of a blacksmith. While an a])prentice, in a 
time of unusual religious interest, he united with the " Free 
Church of Scotland." In 1S81 he went to Glasgow, where he 
found a religious home with the " Plymouth Brethren." 
Although taking an active part in their meetings and laboring 
confcientiously for the upbuilding of their cause, he was never 
satisfied with his own spiritual attainments, feeling, as he 
expressed it, " that salvation was not of that church." While 
in Glasgow he married, and in 1S87 came with his family to 
America. The land of his adoption proved all that he hoped, 
and he found ready employment at his trade, but he also found 
himself afflicted with serious claims of sickness and suffering 
which doctors and drugs failed to remove. In his extremity, a 
friend loaned him a copy of "Science and Health," and he 
accepted it at once as the grandest book he had ever seen. He 
ai)plied for iiiid received Christian Science treatment and soon 
realized health and haimony. As a natural result, he acce|)ted 
this new religion, which heals the sick and casts out evil, and to 
his joy found in it that higher spirituality for which, he had been 
unconsciously yearning. Mr. Taylor is a man of the strictest 
integrity, honored and respected by all who know him ; a man 
of sound sense and few words, and in all respects a good speci- 
men of the sturdy Scotchman. When the Bible and "Science 
and Health " were installed pastor of the " First Church of 
Christ, Scientist," in Manchester, Mr. Taylor was elected one of 
the readers, and as such will be remembered in coming years, 
performing the duties of his office faithfully and acceptably. 




^^^k 

Wm 



lUR I lirLACt; OF HORACE GREELtV, A.MHEKbl, N. H. 
(See page yS, Derry Edilion, Book o( Nulfield.) 



42 



WfLLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 




CLERKS AT MANCHESTER POSTOFFICE. 

A.C.Hsrr. F. L. Blair. GSJ Clara E. Messer. H . H. lUiipee. L. L. Sweet. 

A. J. Nerboiiiie. F. A. Hawley. J. F. Ladriere. F. -A. Consndine. 

L. H. Caipenler. C. J. Gippiicr. Clara L. Piiileipli. U. A. Ryan. K. W. I'ates. 




POSTOFFICE OF MANCHESTER. 



HE first i)()Stoffice in Manchester was estab- much annoyance and it being found inexpedient 
lished at the Centre in 1S35, under the to keep up two offices, the old one was discon- 
administration of President Andrew Jackson. It tinned. In 1S41 the office was moved into the 



T 



had humble quarters in 
the store of Samuel 
Jackson, who was ap- 
]iointcd postmaster and 
held the office until 1840. 
A daily stage at that 
time conveyed all mails 
to and from Manchester. 
About the year 1838 
the residents in the 
locality of the y\moskeag 
falls began to complain 
that they were obliged 
to go so far for their 
mail, and in consequence 
of this agitation an office 
bearing the name of 
Manchester was estab- 
lished in Februarv, 1840, 
in the okl Kidder family 
store in Uu nek lee's 
block on Elm street. 
Jesse Duncklee, who 
was appointed jiostmas- 
ter by President \'an 
Buren, died in March, 
1840, having served only 




UA^IIEI. W. I^NE, FIRST PENNVPOST 



town hail at the north- 
west corner of Market 
and Elm streets, and 
when this building was 
burned in 1844 the office 
was removed to Mr. 
Cragin's house on Han- 
over street. A few 
weeks later it was again 
mo\ed, this time to a 
small buikling near by, 
owned by George A. 
Barnes, where it re- 
mained until the city 
hall was built in 1845, 
and here it found a per- 
manent home until 1854, 
when it was removed 
to the i)uilding now 
occupied by I'rank W. 
Fitts on Hanover street. 
In 1845 President Polk 
aojiointed Warren L. 
Lane postmaster, and 
he held office until 
1849, when he was suc- 
ceeded by James Her- 



one month, and Col. John S. Kidder, a clerk in sey, appointed by President Taylor. In 1853 

the store, took charge of the office until the President Pierce gave the office to his cousin, 

appointment of Paul Cragin, Jr., in 1841, whose Thomas P. Pierce, and he was retained during two 

term of office expired in 1845. The name of the administrations. David J. Clark was appointed 

office at the Centre was then changed to Man- by President Lincoln in 1861 and reappointed in 

Chester Centre, but the similarity in names causing 1865, and upon his death, soon after his second 

43 



44 



WILLET'S BOOK OF XUTFIELD. 



appointment, Col. Bradbury P. Cilley was chosen In- carriers, two only having been appointed in 1S65, 
President Johnson to fill out the unexpired term, when the free delivery system was adopted in 
In 1862, under Postmaster Clark's administration, Manchester. July i, 1889, the office was made a 

second-class office, allowing the postmaster a 
salary of $2,900, and one year later it was made 
a first-class office, with a salary of $3,000. Samuel 
S. Piper was appointed postmaster by President 
Harrison in April, 1890, and he held office until 
May I I, 1894. 

The business of the office had assumed such 
proportions that it was apparent, as early as 1880, 
that a large and substantial building would soon 
be necessary for the safet)' and convenience of the 
postal transactions. Through the inllucnce of 
Gen. R. N. Batchelder, Senator Blair, and others, 
an appropriation of $200,000 was secured for the 
construction of a federal building, to contain the 
postoffice and the United States courts, and the 




JOSEPH L. STEVENS. 

John T. Spofford entered the postal service and 
became so efficient that he was retained ni the 
Manchester office thirty-two years, during twenty- 
four of which he was assistant postmaster. He 
retired May 1 1, 1S94, on account of the infirmities 
of age. In 1870 Joscpii L. Stevens was appointed 
postmaster by President Grant, and held office for 
sixteen years. In his administration the office was 
removed to Odd P'ellows' block on Hanover street, 
and when the postoffice block was built on the 
opposite side of the street, a lease was taken of a 
suite of rooms there, and a much more pretentious 
and convenient office fitted up, with marble floors 
in the corridors, a private office for the postmaster, 
furnace heat, and other modern conveniences. 
President Cleveland appointed Josiah G. Dearborn work was begun in the spring of 1889. Additional 
postmaster in 18S6. The rapid increase of the appropriations were found to be necessary, and the 
city's business obliged him to have three additional building, when completed, in November, 1890, cost 




JOHN R, WILLIS. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



45 



$25 1 ,000. It is a fine structure of Concord granite, 
124 hv 67 feet, two stories and basement. On the 
fust lloor are the working rooms fur clerics, 
carriers, etc., and the postmaster's and assistant 






^pj/ ''■^^rj»-% 



► 




JOSIAH G. DEARBORN. 

postmaster's rooms adjoining, all fitted up in iiand- 
some and substantial manner. On the second 
lloor are the United States court room, pension 
iillice, and offices of the district attorney, marshal, 
internal revenue collector, and judges. The 
building is one of the finest federal sliuclures in 
New England. (See cut, page 127.) 

Under the administration of the present post- 
master, Edgar J. Knowlton (see sketch and por- 
trait, page 122), who was appointed by President 
Cleveland and assumed office May 11, 1894, many 
raflical and beneficial changes have been intro- 
duced, including a window for the exclusive sale 
of stamps, a new Sunday afternoon mail south, the 
employment of additional special delivery messen- 
gers, letter carriers, and clerks, an early morning 
collection from the letter boxes in the thickly 
settled districts, an increased number of lock 
boxes, the "filing" system in the money order 
department, improved methods in the registry 
department, the discontinuance of all clerical work 
by the carriers and the strict enforcement of the 



eight-hour law as related to them, and the distribu- 
tion of the last night mail from the south imme- 
diately upon its arrival. The office employs 13 
clerks, 23 carriers, 2 special messengers, and one 
mail messenger to and from the station ; there are 
79 letter boxes ; 36 mail pouches go out daily, and 
38 are received ; 75 mail sacks of newspapers and 
periodicals are received, and 70 are sent out. The 
number of letters handled daily averages 20,000, 
and about six tons of newspapers and periodicals 
pass through the office every week ; 10,000 letters 
are registered annually, and about the same num- 
ber received, while money orders to the amount of 
$150,000 are issued each year, and nearly the 
same amount is paid out on incoming orders. 

There has been a great development of postal 
facilities in Manchester since 1849, when Joel 
Taylor was appointed a penny postman, delivering 
letters in any part of the village for two cents, and 
newspapers for one cent. This sum was in addi- 
tion to the postage and was paid by those receiv- 
ing the mail. Joseph Eerren succeeded Mr. 
Tavlor as penny postman, and D. W. Lane at one 
time delivered letters and papers on his own 
account as a competitor for public favor. The 
service, however, was not [lopular, and it was 



- 




^ 


■ 


. ^ ^^ fk 


1 

1 


■""i^^i 




■ j\.- 


> 


'IGF ^^^^I 


1 


^^^^^H 




|ft-';T'r!ij#t»^<^n ^l^^l 


^^^1 



JOEL TAYLOR. 

discontinued. Many old citizens remember well 
the time when all the mails were carried between 
the olTice and the railway station in a small cart 
drawn by Curtis K. Kendall. 



46 



WILLET'S BOOK OF XUTFIELD. 



SUBURBAN rOSTOFFICES. 

The first oflfice near Manchester was at Pis- 
cataquog, or Piscataquogville, as it was called in 
the early commissions, and sometimes abbreviated 
to " Squog." This office, established in 1816, with 
James Parker as the first postmaster, was then in 
the town of Bedford. Before this time the inhabi- 
tants of that 
locality r e - 
c c i \' e d their 
mail from the 
mounted post- 
man and from 
private individ- 
uals returning 
from Concord 
and Amherst, 
the nearest of- 
fices. In those 
days the post- 
age on letters 
was six and one 
fourth cents for 
the first thirty 
miles, twelve 
and one half 
cents for si.xty 
miles, eighteen 
three fourths 
cents for one 
hundred miles, 
and twenty-five 
cents for three 
hundred miles 
and over. In 
1829 Jonas B. 
Bowman suc- 
ceeded Mr. Parker as postmaster, and in 1830 
James McKeen Wilkins was appointed. He 
resigned in 1834, and Col. John S. Kidder was 
appointed May 31 of that year. He is still living 
in this city, and is vigorous in mind and body at 
the age of eighty-six years. Leonard Rundlett 
followed Col. Kidder as postmaster, and the office 
was discontinued about 1840 on account of the 
rapid growth of Manchester. 

There are three postoflices, Amoskeag, Massa- 




A. J. jlemiell, j.iiiilor. S. K. Slearns, EnRineer. 

J. E. lilaDcliartl, Transfer Clerk. 



besic, and Goffe's Falls, within the citv limits, but 
all are separate and distinct from the main office. 
The Amoskeag office was established in 1828, 
with Samuel Kimball as postmaster. He was suc- 
ceeded in 1830 by Dr. Oliver Dean, the agent of 
the Amoskeag Company, and the other incum- 
bents have been : Richard Kimball, W. H. Kim- 
liall, Hugh Moore, A. B. Smith, Walter B. Jones, 

Joseph Jones, 
Thos. S. Mont- 
gomery, Harris 
J. Poor, George 
H. Colby, S. L. 
Flanders, Miss 
S. A. Stearns, 
and S. L. Flan- 
ders, who was 
appointed for 
the second time 
in April, 1S93. 
The increase of 
summer visi- 
tors at Lake 
Massabesic and 
the growth of 
the city in that 
direction made 
an office neces- 
sary at that 
place, and one 
was established 
there in 1881, 
mainlv througii 
the inlluencc of 
Gen. Charles 
Williams. Jas. 
Benson was ap- 
pointed post- 
master, and he has smce held the office, his wife, 
Mrs. Sarah Benson, being his assistant. A post- 
office was opened at Goffe's Falls, on the west side 
of the river, in Bedford, soon after the building of 
the railway in 1842. Capt. Nathaniel Moore was 
made postmaster, and he continued in office until 
his death, Feb. 7, 1884, when his nephew, L. P. 
Moore, was appointed. He was the incumbent 
until his death in 1894. In October of that year 
A. N. Nettle, the present postmaster, was appointed. 



K. M. Sniiili, Messenger. 

F. G. Nelson, Ass't Engineer. 



H 'IL LEV S /.' n OK OF NUTFIE I. D 



■47 




CARRIERS AT MANCHESTER POSTOFFICK. 
,.M.a,a„.,er. W... Sanford. O. W. EHi.,. M.J. F.Connor. J. Lari«.. ^ aV.H,K^ \']:l^''' 

AO. Dolfoff. G.N. Manning. W.E.Dunbar. J. W. Downer. W. H. Heath. 
A. Wacner. C. H. Rnwe. W. H. Carpenler. J.J. Dnscoll. 

J.J. Kelley. 



A. Giistafson. J. J. .Sulliva 

W. K. Stockdale. 1. L. Campbel 
A. i. Maniii. 



ORIGIN OF THE NUTFIELD COLONY. 



IT has been said of the emigrants of 1710, who 
founded the colony of Nutheld, that in the 
assured hope of securing freedom of conscience 
and rchgious Hbert)', they were willing to take their 
chances in worldly matters, whereas the emigrants 
of today would, if necessary, reverse that order, and 
imperil their religious rather than their material 
interests. However that may be, certain it is that 
in these piping times of religious toleration no 
Protestant ever leaves Catholic Ireland, and no 
Catholic ever leaves Protestant England, in order 
to obtain freedom of conscience. It is rather the 
freedom which money will buy that he seeks upon 
these shores. So it is often difficult now to realize 
that less than two centuries ago the founders of 
Nutfield colony preferred the hardships and dan- 
gers of the wilderness in an inhospitable clime to 
the comforts of established homes in a beautiful 
land. It would, however, be erroneous to suppose 
that those high-minded men, with their lofty ideals 
and noble characters, were guided wholly by reli- 
gious motives in their determination to emigrate. 
There were material as well as spiritual reasons for 
leaving their native land. Although the Protest- 
ant cause had been firmly established in Ireland, 
and they were permitted to maintain their own 
forms of worship unmolested, still, as Presbyterians 
and dissenters from the Church of England, they 
were hampered in many ways. They were com- 
pelled to give up a tenth part of their income for 
the support of the established religion, and they 
held their lands and tenements bv lease from the 
crown, and not as proprietors of the soil. This 
taxation was not only burdensome, but it was gall- 
ing in the extreme. Nor was this trammelling of 
their civil and religious rights the only cause of 
their dissatisfaction with the conditions at home. 



Surrounded as they were by the native Irish Cath- 
olics, with whom it was impossible for them to 
affiliate, and breathing the subtle atmosphere of 
hostility, their position was most uncomfortable. 
The hundred years of residence in Ireland had only 
served to accentuate the differences between the 
Scotch and Irish characters, asMacaulay has so well 
shown in his summing up of the state of affairs 
existing at that time. He says : " On the same soil 
dwelt two populations, locally intermixed, morally 
and politically sundered. The difference of religion 
was by no means the only difference, and was per- 
haps not the chief difference, which existed between 
them. They sprang from different stocks. They 
spoke different languages. They had different 
national characters, as strongly opposed as any two 
national characters in Europe. They were in widely 
different stages of civilization. There could, there- 
fore, l)e little sympathy between them, and centuries 
of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong 
antipathy. The relation in which the minority stood 
to the majority resembled the relation in which the 
followers of William the Conqueror stood to the 
Saxon churls, or the relation in which the followers 
of .Cortez stood to the Indians of Mexico. The 
appellation of Irish was given exclusively to 
the Celts, and to those families which, though not 
of Celtic origin, had in the course of ages degen- 
erated into Celtic manners. These people, proba- 
bly somewhat under a million in number, had, with 
few exceptions, adhered to the Church of Rome. 
Among them resided about two hundred thousand 
colonists, proud of their Saxon blood and of their 
Protestant faith. The great pre])onderance of 
numbers on one side was more than compensated 
by a great superiority of intelligence, vigor, and 
orsanization on the other. The EnfjUsh settlers 



48 



W/LLErs HOOK' OF NUTFIELD. 



49 



seem 1(1 have been, in knowledLi'e, iMieru'v, and per- 
severance, rather above than lielow the a\erayc 
le\-el of the iiopuhition of the mother eountr\-. 
The ahorioinal peasantrv, on the contiarv, were in 
an ahnost savaije state." 



al\va\s he a iaseinatiny' one, for those dark and 
traiiic years between 1640 and 1689 in the north of 
Irehmd are memorable in the world's historv. 
Some of the bitterest conflicts were wag-ed there 
tiiat have exer been fonyht for iuiman Hl)ert\', and 
Small wonder then that the Nuffield settlers the biax-e defence of Lon(h)nderrv marks a threat 

were not loth to esca|)e all these embarrassments, 

anti that the\- were wilHnii' to foretjo manv material 

comforts for the sake of a larger ei\'il libertv. The 

stnrdv ohl James MacGregor, one of tlie four ])as- 

lors who accompanied theii* Hocks to America, and 

the first minister of Londonderrv, preached a ser- 

mcin to his people just before their embarkation, 

and it is interestins; to note his reasons for their i 

lemoval to this countrv. He was no hvpocrite, ; 

but frank and honest, and it is siirjnificant that he 

puts the worldly reason first, and the spiritual rea- ^ iT^ •-, "^sIWb 

son last : " 1. To avoid oppi'ession and cruel bond- \ "^ 

aoe. 2. To shun persecuti<in and desiu;ned ruin. 

3. To withdraw from the communion of idolators. 

4. 'I'o ha\e an opportunity of worshipinu' (iod ac- 
cording to the dictates of conscience and the rules 
of His insjiired Word." 

LONDONDERRY, IRELAND, FROM THE SOUTH. 



- -'■■'•:k 



■'HT^^iii+fcMJ 



.:.V'iiM'i 



ejioch in the world's pro^-ress. Hence the appro- 
])riateness ol a brief oiUline ol those historic events 
in this Hook of Nutfield. 

Londonderry, Ireland, was settled by the de- 
scendants of a colony which mii^rated from .\ro-yle- 
shiie, Scotland, about the \'ear 161 2. 'I"he\' were 
induced to settle in Ireland b\- the fact that James 
1., alter the sup|)ression of a rebellion b\- his Cath- 
olic subjects, had acquiretl almost the whole of the 
six northern counties of Ireland, and he encour- 
ao;ed his Scotch and En^-lish subjects, by liberal 
grants, to settle there, in the hope that their pres- 
ence mioht quell the turbulent Irish spirits. The 
Irish rebellion in the reiyn of Charles I. oriijinated 
in the hatred with which the Irish Catholics re- 
sjarded their Protestant neighbors. A general mas- 
sacre was planned, but the plot was fortunately dis- 
They were great men, those first settlers of covered in Dublin. In other parts of Ireland, how- 
Nutfield, but after all they were human, and made ever, it is said that one hundred and fifty thousand 
ol the same stuff as their descendants, who possess persons were killed. During Cromwell's time the 
quite as much latent lu-roism and nobilit\ of char- Protestants were protected from the eimiit\- of the 
aeter. Still, the story of events in Ireland preced- Irish Catholics, but James II. greatly disaffected 
ing the emigration of the Nutfield cok)nists will his English subjects by his attempts to re-establish 




LONUONDEURY, UiELAND. EROM THE NORIH. 



so 



Wir.LErs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 








-.■i'--«-;»4S5Si.Cv 




the supremacy of tlic Church of Rome. VVilHam, 'l"he ijates were closed a!j,ainst tlie retiiment, and 
Prince of Orantie, was encoura<jed hv man\' in ihat was the l>e(;'innino- of the lamous sieye of Lon- 
Eno-land to attem])! a revolution and ascend the dondeny, which lasted from December 7, 16S8, 
thrcjne. Fie accordingly landed in Enijland in No- until July 28, 16S9. During- those seven or eio:ht 
vcmhcr, 1688, and was soon joined by the principal mcnitiis the sufferings of the besie2:ed were such as 
lords. James escaped to France, where Louis can be onl\- imaijined, not described. So often has 

the harrowiny- tale been told that its repetition 
here is unnecessarv. All the horrors of bombard- 
ment, starvation, sickness, pestilence, dansjers with- 
out and treacherous foes within the walls, ho])e of 
relief deferred ayain and aj^ain, imtil the verv last 
extremity was reached, — all this, and more, was en- 
dured by the brave men and women who held out 
for principle. In Juh', so reduced was the supplv 
of ]iro\-isions that a rat sold for a shilliny-, and a 
mouse for sixpence, while a cat brouy'ht four shil- 
ft I I F--^ R linys and sixpence. Tallow and salted hides were 

a luxurv. One corpulent man, tearinir that the 
soldiers miyht kill and eat him, concealed himself 
for several davs. Despair had beyun to settle down 
on nearly everv heart. But deliverance was soon 
at hand, and the sieo-e was at an end. it had cost 
nearh- \\\k: thousand lives of the beleasfucred and 
nine thousand of the Catholic forces. 

WALKERS MrtNUMF.NI', I.ONDI )N1)KRRV, IRELAND. 

XIV. advised him to attempt recainino- his throne, 
'rhouii'h William of Oranti'c had been elected kino-, 
Ireland still maintained its allea^iance to James, and 
'r\rconnel, the lord lieutenant, beuan raising new 
levies of troops. James resolved to cross over to 
Ireland, subdue the places which offered resistance, 
proceed to Scotlantl, and then meet William's 
forces in Knoland. Had not his plans been spoiled 
bv the bold defence of Londonderrv, there is little 
doubt that he would have been successful, and that 
Catholicism wouUl have lu-en re-established in 
Great Britain. So this small citv of Londonderry 
Itecamc the arena on which the iate ot religious 
freedcjm was decided. 

Londonderrv, situated one huntlretl and iiftv 
miles northwest of Dublin, was the Protestant 
stronjijhold of the north of Ireland, and was the 
only place, excepting Enniskillen, which offered 
effectual resistance to the arms of James. Tyrcon- 
nel determined to seize the citv and hold it for the 
deposed kinii', but the inhabitants, learniny- that a 
regiment of Papal troops was on the wa\- to the 
citv, refused to desert the cause of Protestantism. 









SHIP QUAY STREET, LONDONDERRY, IRELAND. 

Some of these brave defenders of London- 
derrv, or their descendants, were the settlers of 
Nutlield, and such men were well preixu'ed to en- 
counter the hardships of founding a colon\- in the 
wilderness. So important tlid the king and j)arlia- 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



SI 



returned from Haverhill by way of Dracut, in or- 
der to hx\x\^ with them Rev. Mr. McGrejjor, who 
had spent the winter there in teachino;, and the two 
parties met, aecording to tradition, at a spot which 
has ever since been known as Horse hill, on the 
farm now occupied bv James M. Bachelder. Here 







ment consider the defence of Londonderry, that an 
act was passed exempting from taxation throu<rh- 
out the British dominions all who had borne arms 
in the city durino- the siege, and of this act those 
who settled in Nuffield availed themselves until the 
American Revolution, occupvinfj lands known as 
the "exempt farms." 

In I 718, for the reasons <jiven aboxe, four Pres- 
byterian ministers of Londonderry, James Mac- 
(iresjor, William Cornwell. William Boyd, and 
John Holmes, with portions of their respective 
cons:rea;ations, determined to emisjrate to America. 
They eml)aikr(l in {wk: sbi])S for Boston, and ar- 
rived there Auuust 4, 1718. Sixteen of the fami- 
lies went to Casco Bay, Me., and remained there 
(lurino; the winter, sufferint';' (jreat privations from 
lack of food and shelter. James McKeen, the 
yrandfather of the first president of Bowdoin eol- 
letje, was one of the company. In the sjiriny- of 
I 719 the little colony left their winter (juarters and 
\yent to Hax'erhill, where they heard of a fine tract 
of land al)out litteen miles distant, ealleil Nutlield, 
from the abundance of its chestnut, walnut, and 

ENN1SKU,LEN. IRKI.AND. 

the\' tied their horses, and Mr. MacGretjor made 
an address, eonyratulatinu" his fiock on their safe 
arri\al, and exhortinfr them to continued confi- 
dence in God. On the followiuij day, April 12, 
I 719, old style, he returned to his family in Dracut, 
but before ,U'oin^' he delix'ered the first sermon ever 
preached in Nutfield. The spot ciiosen for this 
first relicjious service was under a lari>-e oak, on the 
; ; east siile of Bea\-er pond, and Mr. MacGregor's 

text was from Isaiah xxxii. 2: "Andaman shall 
be as a hilling |)laee from the wind, and a covert 
from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place; 
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." 
After standing more than a hundred and twenty- 
five years the oak tree fell through deca\-, and the 
owner of the field |)!anted an apple tree on the spot 
as a memorial, which also fell through decay some 
bmteinut tiees. Ilert- they determineil, after an years ago. Some time in May following the ar- 
mvestigation, to take up the grant which they had rival of the settlers, Mr. MacGregor removed with 
obtained lioni Massachust-tts of a township twehe his family from Dracut to Nutfield and assumed 
miles square, .\fter i)uilding a few temporary huts the pastoral charge of the society. Thus was the 
they returnid to Ha\i'rhill for their families, house- first Presbyterian church in New England formally 
hold goods, and i)rovisions. Some (jf the company organized, and to that church most of the other 




TIIF, DIAMON'U, I.ON'DON'DERRV, IRKI.AND. 



52 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 




RST SERMON h\ NUTKIELD. 



\\'i/.j.j-:}"s HOOK OF xi"j'in:/.i). 



S3 



churches of this dcnominatidn in New En<>land, 
directlv or incHrccllv, owe tlieir existence. Mr. 
MacCircijor, wlio was then t()rt\-lwo \ears of uije, 
had received a tliorouuii classical and t lieoloo^ical 
education, and was a man of <j;reat courage. 
Thouuh onI\- twelve years old at the time of the 
siej^e of Londonderrv, he bore an active part in 
its defence, and had the honor of hrinir the a^reat 
gun in the tower of the cathedral, [the cuts of 
Londonderr\' herewith si'iven show the catiiedral 
on the hifrhest point of land] answerinir the ships 
which l)rouijht relief from the lontj atjonv. His 
death in 1720; was mourned as a public calamit\'. 

The e\'ents immediateh' tollowinu the estab- 
lishment of Nutheld colonv, the many irvino- ex- 
periences of pioneer life, the lonsj and \'e.\atious 
delavs in fjettino- clear titles to the lands, and in 
securing- the incorporation ot the town, are narrated 
elsewhere in this work. 



Keeper of the village fold. 
Seventy years he "s seen already: 
.Still his step is firm and steady. 
.\nd his eye is keen and hnld. 

Neither wrong nor vice he spares : 

Not alone the pastoral crook. 

But the smooth stones from the brook, 

Close at hand. 
And the ready sling he bears; 
And. if any go astray. 
He is not afraid to use them : — 
Better wound his tlock than lose them. 
Blindly wandering away. 



DEV. MATTHEW CLARK, the second min- 
^ ^ ister of Londonderry, came to this town in 
1 729. He supplied the desk, made vacant that year 
1)\- the death of Re\'. James MacGresior, foiu' vears, 
until the settlemint of Rev. Thomas Thompson, in 
He lived but si.\ vears after cominir here. 



/ .lo- 



dvino- January 25, 1735, and though never installed 
over tlie church, more is known ot him b\' the peo- 
|)le of the present da\ than is known of two of his 
successors — Mr. 'Ihompson and Mr. Davidson — 
though their united pastorates amounted to fifty- 
li\'e vears. 

Thi' following poem, written b\- Marian Doug- 
las, was read b\' Hon. James \V. Patterson at the 
Londonderrv celebration, 1869: 

Fresh leaves glisten in the sun, 

-And the air is soft and clear ; 
"l"is the spring-tide of the ) ear 
Of our Lord 

Seventeen hundred thirty-one. 
'Tis the robin's wedding time. 

And a breath of plum and cherry 

Makes the air of I^ondonderry 

Sweet as Eden in its jirime. 

On the road the shadow falls 
Of the Reverend Matthew Clark. 
Man of ])rayer and man of mark, 

Out today. 
Making some parochial calls. 








Ho|)eful for the days to be. 
Forward all his dreams are cast, 
Hut his memories of the past. 

( )ne and all. 
Lie in lands beyond the sea; 
For, but lately, from abroad. 
To light up the Derry weavers, 



54 



]\7L/.ErS JlOOh' OF KrrFIEJ.D. 



Honest men and true belie\'ers, 
Came this "candle of the Lord." 

Matching well his daimtless mien. 
On his temple is a scar. 
(^'ou can see it just as far 

As his wig 
Or the man himself is seen,) 
Bravely won when. Heaven's own liege, 
'Mid the groans of starved and dying. 
He had fought, on God relying, 
In the Londonderry siege. 



Still that memory remains: 
And a sound of martial strife, 
Beat of drum, or shriek of fife, 

Makes the blood 
Thrill and tingle in his veins : 
And his heart grows young again. 
Thinking of the vanished glory 
Of those days renowned in story, 
Days of triumph and of pain. 

When, his cold breath on each brow, 
Bra\e men, without doubt or dread. 
Looked in Death's stern eyes and said, 
Oravely firm, 
' We are stronger far than thou I 
Friends of Truth, and foes of Ouilt. 
Wounded, starving, fainting, breathless 
We are (iod's, and God is deathless, — 
Take us, leave us, as thou wilt ! " 



A WEDDING IN THE OLDEN TIME 

■'^ was an c.xticniclv li\cl\- affair. The oucsts 
were all invited at least three days beforehand; 
truns were fired in the respective neis^hhorhoods of 
hride and yroDm on tlie morning of the weddino; 
dav, and at the appointed hour the i^room and his 
friends set out from his house. About half wav to 
the bride's dwellin"' they were met by her male 
friends, and each companv chose one man to "run 
for the bottle," to the house of the bride. The 
one who returned first with the bottle oave a toast 
and drank to the bridegroom's health, after which 
the beverage was of course passed around. Then 
the whole partv proceeded, firing their muskets as 
thev went li\' the liouses on the wav. Arrived at 
the bride's home, the bridegroom's companv were 
placed in a room bv themselves, and it was consid- 
ered an act of impoliteness for an\' ot the bride's 
friends to intrude. Just before the ceremonv was 
to liegin the best man entered the bride's apart- 
ment, led her into the room, and, placing her at 
the right hand of the groom, took his station im- 
mediatelv behind, as did also the "best maid." 
After the ceremonv all the men kissed the bride, 
and all the women kissed the groom. Dinner tol- 
lowed, and then came dancing and other amuse- 
ments. 



But today the air of spring 
Breathes around a peaceful calm. 
And his thoughts are like a psalm, 

•' Praise to God ! " 
Sung by Israel's shejjherd king; 
And around him Fancy ])aints 
Here the budding rod of .\aron. 
There the mystic rose of Sharon, 
And the lilies of the saints. 



And the wind that softly steals 
From the orchard trees in bloom, 
Laden with their sweet perfume. 

Seems to him 
Blowing from celestial fields. 
Priest and teacher of the town. 
Long as stands good Londonderry, 
W'ith its stories sad and merry. 
Shall thy name be handed down 
As a man of prayer and mark. 
Grave and reverend Matthew Clark ! 




UliORGE W. KIMl'.ALL S RESIDENCE, NORTH UONUONUERRV. 



W'JJ.J.Jn'S JJUUK or XITFIELD. 



55 



J WARREN BAILEV was born June 3, 1846, dauo:hter. His second wife was Miss Jennie N. 
on wliat is known as the Chester road, in the Loud, of P]\mouth, Me. 

Eniilish Ranoe district, being' the eldest son of Jere- 

iiiiah and Harriet N. (Maroon) Bailev. There he CLDER JOHN PINKERTON, who opened, 
passetl his l)oyhood days, attending the district about the year 1 750, the first store of foreign 

school anti, later, Pinkerton Academy. i\i the age and tlomestic goods in Londonderry, possessed 

uncommon financial ability, uniting in his char- 
acter Scotch ])iudence with \'ankee enterprise. 
He and his brother James were the ]>rineiinil bank- 
ers and money lenders (jf the town, and they were 
particularly careful in making loans to haye the 
yery best of security. They gencralh' wanted 
more than two names on a note, and if onl\' one 
indorser was presented, the elder would insist on 
another, saying, "A threefold cord is not easily 
broken ; you may give me another name." 



I 






■ 




^S^'* 








^IfT^^.: 


-t-ij, --'«^ 






<x 


'-«»*■' 




^ 




Ir- ^ 




^H 




m""^^ 


¥ 











J. WARRKN BAII.KV. 

of nineteen he accepted a position as officer at the 
Rhode Island state prison, remaining at this insti- 
tution, and at the Massachusetts state prison, al)out 
six years, a portion of the time as deputy warden. 
Since then he has been engaged in mercantile pui- 
suits in Boston, for the past ten years at No. loS 
Tremont street. In Somerville, Mass., where for 
more than twenty years Mr. Bailey has residetl. In 
has l)iTii prominenth- itlentified with jniblic affairs, 
haying reiMesented his ward in the city council for 
sr\rral \ears, and his city in the legislature for 
two hrnis. He is at present a member of the 
state board of prison commissioneis, ])resident of 
the West Somerville Co-operatiye Bank, and a 
director in the Somerville bank. In 1872 Mr. 
Bailey married for his first wife Miss Emma R. 
Clark, of Derry, who died in 1884, leaving one 



DEV. MATTHEW CLARK, who succeeded 
^ ^ Mr. MacGregor as pastor, was sometimes 
sensational in his pulpit methods. It is related of 
him that on one occasion he took his text from 
Piiilip|)ians iv. 13, and thus began his sermon : ■■ ' I 
can do all things' — ay, can ye, Paul? I'll bet ye 
a dollar on that," and he drew a Spanish dollar 
from his pocket and placed it on the desk. " Stop ! 
let's see what Paul says: 'I can do all things 
through Christ, which strengtheneth me.' Ay, so 
can I, Paul; I draw my bet," and he thereujion 
put the dollar back into his pocket. 




CHARLKS MCALLISTER S RESIDENCE, LONDONDERRY. 



56 



wif./.Ers /u)()k' OF xrrriELJK 



TRA H. ADAMS, M. D., the son of jarvis and 
i Eunice (Mitchell) Adains, was horn Au.^'. lo, 
1M46, in Pomfret, \"t. His earl\- education was 
ohtained in the i)ul)lic schocjl of his native town, 
and, later, at Meriden, N. H., where he was lilted 
for collesjc. He studied medicine at l5owdoin and 
DartrnoLith medical coUeiics, <i:raduatin<i- from the 
latter institution. In 1S74 he heyan practice in 
Hooksett, removinfi' later to Derry De])ot, where 
he has since resided. Auti-ust 31, 1S75, he was 
married to Miss Louise S. Perle\-, of Lemjister, N. 
H. Two children have been added to the famih" : 
Richard Herbert, born June 10, 1S76, and Jennie 
Louise, born Sept. 
15, 1S81. Dr. Adams 
has attained hiu'h 
honors in Odd Ih'1- 
lowshij), havinsj,' unit- 
ed with the order in 
1875, at SLuicook, 
and havinsj been pro- 
moted successive) V 
through all the de- 
a;rees to urand patri- 
arch, and yrand rep- 
resentative to the 
sovereign yrand 
lodiie. Dr. Adams's 
pronounced success 
as a physician has 
been due not less to 
his broad and s\-mpa- 
thetic mind than to 
the man\' years of 
h ard and fa i t h f ul 

work which he. has devoted to tlu- prolession. 
Reali/inti' that medicine is as vet more of an art 
than a science, and that its iirineiples are not all 
summed up in dr\' fornuilas. he has carried every- 
where into his practice the indis])ensable element 
of personal svmpathy, which in many cases is more 
efficacious than an\' druo". The natural conse- 
quence of this trait in his character has been over- 
work, and the taxinti" of his physical powers to 
such an extent as to ri-mler necessary a relaxation 
of his professional labors. ( )f such a man it is but 
.scant praise to say that he is '• popular," for Dr. 



him, and who trust that the impairment of his 
usefulness is but temporar\-. 



in;. 




DR. ADAMS S RKSIIIKNeK, DKRRV UKl'ol. 



L_|ENR\' PARKINSON, who was General 
* ' Stark's (|uartermaster and intimate friend, 

eami-with his parents from L(mdonderr\-, Ireland, 
to Londonderr\- ni 1744. He received a thorouyh 
classieal education, iiraduatinu; in 1 765 from Nas- 
sau hall, now Princeton colletic. His parents in- 
tended him lor the Presbyterian ministrv, but he 
could not accept the doctrine of "election" held 
bv that church, and so he devoted himself t(.) teach- 
When the news came from Lexinijton in 

April, 1776, Parkin- 
son immi-diatelv en- 
listed in a compan\- 
of ninetv-nine min- 
ute men, under Capt. 
Georsje Re id, and 
soon j ( ri n e d the 
A m e r i c a n a r m \. 
M archino- as a private 
to the field, Parkin- 
son was immediateb' 
called bv Stark, who 
was well ac(|uainted 
with him, to the (|uar- 
termastership of his 
rei^iment, s h ar i n <^ 
with the hero the 
honors ot Hunker 
1 lill and Benning'ton, 
and continuinu- in ac- 
tive service as quar- 
termaster throutih- 
outthewar. 'Ihe intimac\' between the ijeneral 
and his (|uartermaster lasted throuyiiout life, and 
after the old hero, in his y'reat aye, was confined 
at home, Parkinson visited him everv vear. On 
retiring;- from the armv, he returned at once to his 
former work of teachiny', and establishetl a classical 
school at ('oneord, which attained a wide reputa- 
tion, and which he contlucted for manv vears. 
About 1800 he removed to a farm in Canterburv, 
and divided his remainino; \ ears between farming 
and teaching. His tieath occurred in 1820. His 
wife was Jenett McCurdy, and one of his chil- 



Adams is loved and respected by all who know dren, Mrs. Daniel Blanchard, born in Concord, 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



57 




M 










I)K. AIIAIIS AND KAMII.V. 



58 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



in 1788, lived to be nearly 100 years of atje. Park- 
inson was a fine linguist, and spoke Latin fluently. 
On a slatestone slab in the cemetery at Canter- 
bury Centre is his epitajih, which reads as follows: 

Here lie interred the remains of Henry Parkinson, A. M., 
long distinguished as an excellent classical scholar. The follow- 
ing brief epitome of his life was composed by himself: " Hiber- 
nia me genuit, America nutrivit; docui. militavi. atqiie maniis 
iaboravi : et nunc terra me occupat. et quiete in [lulvere dormio 
quasi in gremio materno meo : Hue ades. amice mi care, aspice, 
et memento ut moriendum (juoque certe sit tibi. Ergo vale et 
cave." Abeit 23d Maie A. 1). 1820, aet. 79. 

The Latin mav be rendered into Entrlish thus: 



Ireland gave me birth, America brought me up; I taught, 
did military service, and labored with my hands; and now the 
earth embraces me, and I sleep quietly in the dust as on my ma- 



ternal bosom. Come hither, my dear friend, and rememlier that 
you also must surely die. Therefore farewell and beware. 
Died May 23, 1820, aged 79. 



CAMILY PRAYER was regularly <)l)served 
*■ every morning and every evening in all the 
rude dwellings of the early settlers, and the Scrip- 
tures were devouth read. If any famd\- omitted 
these daily acts of devotion, there would inimecH- 
ately be an investigation by the pastor. It is 
related that Rev. Mr. MacGregor was one evening 
informed that a member of his flock had become 
neglectful of family worship. He went at once to 
his house, and fmding that the fami]\" hatl retired 
for the night, called up the man and asked if the 
report was true. The fact was admitted, and the 
pastor, reproving him stenih- for his fault, refused 
to leave the house until the backslider had knelt 
and offered up prayer. 




W. p. MACK S RESIDENCE, I.ONDO.N'DERRV. VIEW FROM THE SOUTH. 



THE ENGLISH RANGE IN NUTFIELD. 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY. 



WITHIN twelve months after the arrival (if 
the first sixteen families, the population ol 
VJutfield, afterward the ineorporated township o( 
^ondonderrv, numiiered several hundred, and 
iinultaneouslv the allotments of homesteads were 
nade t(i the ])r()])rietors under the charter to the 
lumber of one hundred and twentv-four and a half 
ihares, exclusive of large awards in land given to 
uime particularlv intluential persons who had as- 
sisted the emigrants in securing a grant of land. 
\bout seven thousand five hundred acres were laid 
)ut in homesteads under the schedule as recorded 
villi the charter, June i, 1722, and cm the same 
lav one thousand eight hundred and fittv-six acres 
vere allowed as rewards for special services to 
hirteen persons directlv connected with the pro- 
;uring of clear titles to the land. The largest 
rrants of land for special services were made to 
he officers of the crown, who acted as mediators 
jetween the colonists and the king. These loval- 
sts were the Lieutenant Governor of His Ma- 
jestv's Province of New Hampshire in New Eng- 
land, and that bodv of followers comnionh 
:lesignated as the governor's suite, with colonels 
ind men of military insignia in the service of the 
king. These persons received grants of land in 
proportion to the supposed importance of their 
rank and services, not alone in Nutfield but in 
various other settlements over a wide area of land 
not very clearlv defined in early records. 

Without controversy the section of the town- 
shij) which was called the English Range em- 
Itraced the most pronounced Tory faction, and as 
Englishmen in sentiment, spirit, and religious 



opinions the settlers there had a profound con- 
tempt for the zeal, piety, and learning of the fugi- 
tive Covenanters by whose pestiferous preaching 
the whole (jf Great Britain was shaken. 

The series of parallel homesteads that may 
properly be designated as the English Range began 
at the most easterlv cornier of Beaver pond and 
extended in the form of a rectangle whose longer 
side lav in a due nortlnvest line to a point near 
Shields's upper pond, and the shorter line lay in a 
due northeast line along the course of the stream 
above Beaver pond to the limit of Haverhill False 
Line, so called by reason of a claim that the people 
of Haverhill made to the part of this town then 
Iving east of a meridional line through that corner 
of the English Range. The longer side of the 
rectangle was about six hundred rods in length 
and the shorter, the length of a farm or homestead 
of the common pattern, three hundred and twenty 
rods. An actual survey of the farms covered by 
the transcripts of the allotments shows the area of 
the Eno-lish Range to have exceeded the amounts 
indicated in the records. This excess of land area 
is not peculiar to this range, for examination leads 
to the conclusion that many allowances were made 
on general principles for irregularities in the sur- 
face and especially for poor land, or land already 
partially pre-empted for hay privileges. The 
meadows were measured and bounded separately 
from the uplands, and frequently the meadow pri- 
vileges of a settler would be staked and bounded 
within the limits and boundaries of his neighbor's 
farm. The laying out of meadows in the Proprie- 
tors' Book comprises a large part of the record, 



59 




z 

< 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD- 



6i 



l)Ul in a ijeneral review of the limits jiiescribcd in From 1865 to 1869 he resided at Henniker, rcturn- 
these articles, no i)articular attention can he i^iven \x\^ to Manchester in the latter year, servina: as 
to this feature of the oriyinal plan of the land city solicitor in 1875 and remaining here until 
division. 1885, when he accepted a position in the treasury 

The English Range embraced a beautiful tract department at Washington, and remained there 
of land, with fine glimpses of Beaver pond from during President Cleveland's first term. In 1889 
almost every^part, and some of the farms running he resumed the practice of law in Manchester. In 

the years 1857-58, he was private secretary for 
lion. Stephen A. Douglass in Washington, and 
was in the treasury department from July 1 1, 1862, 
until Dec. 15, 1865. On July 20, 1885, he was 
appointed superintendent of currency in the oflice 
of the comptroller of currency, and on May 4, 
1888, was appointed teller at the office of the same 
official. Durina: the war Mr. Perkins sio-ned afov- 
ernment bonds for the secretary of the treasury 
with his initials, " D. L. P.," often more than 



ffpiiiiHir' mm 




. . .. iJtM. 


^y 






■■■.■■ .*'*^>>aVV 


_ " ..":_■ Ji- ''■'•""' ■-•'■ "^•' 


'^. 



UEAVER rONU, OR 'I'SIENNF. 10 LAKE, UERRV. 

completely down to the firm shores were selected 
for the more noted persons of the community. 
The map will show the plan of arrangement. 

(See Jjaying Out of Lots — Descriiition of a Homestead — 
Governors — Resolution Passed 1719 — French and Indian 
Wars — James Hunter of Boston — The limits of the Range — 
Record of the Road — Present Owners — Births Prior to Settle- 
ment — Capt David Cargill — Sawmill and Fulling-mill — The 
Second Homestead — Town Meeting, 1720 — Pages 61-63, 
Derry edition, Book of Nuffield.) 




DAVID L. PERKINS. 



piAVID LANE PERKINS was born at Pitts- 

L-^ field March 2, 1S38, and was the son of 

David P. and Lydia C. (Lane) Perkins. His 

father is at present a resident of this city. His 

mother died in 1839. He received his education 

in the public schools of Manchester, including the 

high school, and at the New Hampton Institute. 

He studied law with the firm of Morrison, Stanley 

<S: Clark, and was admitted to the bar March 22, $10,000,000 wcjrth in a day. He probablv put pen 

1862. He resided in Washington, D. C, from and ink to more paper representing value than 

1856 to 1858, returning to Manchester for four anv other person now living. 

years and then going back to Washington, where In his career Mr. Perkins has done consider- 

he was em])loyed as government oflicial until 1S65 able work for newspapers, and was the first Asso- 

tmder appointment by Hon. Salmon P. Chase, ciated Press agent in Manchester, holding the 



62 



iVILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



position for ten years. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity. Possessed of a genial person- 
ality, Mr. Perkins's friends are legion. He served 
for a short time as a volunteer, during the invest- 
ment of Washington by the Confederates, in 
July, 1864. 



MAJOR TIMOTHY W. CHALLIS was 
born in Corinth, Vt., April 23, 1827. He 
came naturally by his military talents, for his great- 
grandfather, with four of his sons, was with Stark 
at Bunker Hill, while his father was for many 
years a cavalry officer in the Vermont militia. In 
his youth he attended the common schools of his 
native town, and at an early age was ai^prenticed to 
a tanner, but in 1845 he came to Manchester and 
learned the carpenter's trade. After some years 
he took up the dagucrrotype business. When 
Sumter was fired on he was at work at carpenter- 
ing in Laconia, where he was connected with the 
fire department and other organizations. In 
response to President Lincoln's call for three 
months' volunteers, Mr. Challis enlisted and was 
elected second lieutenant of a company of which 
Editor O. A. J. Vaughan of the Laconia Demo- 
crat was chosen captain. This company entered the 
state service, but was mustered out at Portsmouth 
June II, on receipt of orders to enlist no more 
three months' men into the United States service. 
July 25, 1861, Mr. Challis enlisted for three years, 
or for the war, in what became Company D of the 
Fourth New Hampshire volunteers, and went to 
the front as orderly sergeant. With this command 
he served throughout the war, being mustered out 
as adjutant Sept. 18, 1865, and having participated 
in the campaigns in Florida, the Carolinas, and 
Virginia. He fought bravely at Pocotaligo, James 
Island, Fort Wagner, Swift Creek, Drury's Bluff, 
Petersburg July 16, 1864, "The Mine," Deep 
Bottom, Newmarket Heights, Fort Gilmer, Fort 
Fisher, and thirteen minor skirmishes, and the 
sieges of Morris Island, Fort Sumter, and Peters- 
burg. He was promoted to second lieutenant 
Oct. 7, 1862; first lieutenant of Company A July 
2-], 1864, and adjutant Nov. 7, 1864; was brevetted 
captain for gallantry at Fort Gilmer, and major for 



bravery at Fort Fisher. Toward the close of his 
service he was captured in North Carolina, along 
with Col. Frank W. Parker, but escaped. After 
tlic war Major Challis located in Manchester, and 
nearly all the time until his death was employed 
by the Amoskeag corporation at his trade. In 
1867 and 1868 he represented his ward in the 
legislature, and in 1877 and 1878 was a member of 
the common council, being president the latter 
year. In 1879-S0 he was a member of the board 
of aldermen. Major Challis served on the com- 
mittee that had charge of the erection of the 




MAJOR riMOTHV W. CHALLIS. 

soldiers' monument. He was a charter member 
of Louis Bell Post ; commander of the state 
department of the Grand Army in 1873 and 1874 ; 
charter member of Granite Lodge, Knights of 
Pythias; an officer in the Manchester War Vet- 
erans and in the Manchester Veteran Association. 
In 1854 he married Martha (Blaisdell) Holmes at 
Laconia, and he died in Manchester Feb. i, 1890, 
leaving, besides his widow, one son, Capt. 
Frank H. Challis of Manchester, 



ROADS AND STREETS OF MANCHESTER, 



THE history of the hisxhwavs of a town has an 
interest and importanee identieal with that of 
its homesteads. In faet, the records of the two 
are not easily separated. The forest-fringed foot- 
path, marked by blazed trees, and leading from 
cabin to cabin of the adventurous pioneers who 
penetrated into the heart of the wilderness to 
found their isolated homes became the roadbed of 
those who followed them. Before the advent of 
the white settlers the country in this vicinity was 
threaded by the Indian trails winthng along the 
l)anks of "silver river," or the airline foot road of 
the Pennacooks' overland route from their head- 
quarters on the Merrimack to their fishing grounds 
on the shores of Lake Massabesic. Often the 
wiklwootl |)aths of the sons of the forest became 
the primary roads of civilized man. The Derry 
turnpike was built along the identical course of an 
Indian game drive, over which manv a fugitive 
deer was chased to the point of lanil called " Deer's 
Neck," where they fell helpless \ictims to their 
wilv pursuers. 

Roads were generally built for one of two 
purposes — to open the way to business or for the 
accommodation of settlers in mingling with one 
another. As Amoskeag falls, famed far and near 
for its wonderful fishing facilities, became the 
common centre of the trails of the Indians that 
resorted thither to fish, so did the place become the 
objective point of the earlier roads of the whhe 
men, that they might avail themselves of the 
advantages of its fisheries. 

The first travelled way deserving the dignity 
of being called a road, of which wiitten history 
speaks, and which led into and through the terri- 
tory now comprising Manchester, was the bridle 
path made at the expense and under the direction 



of Rev. John Eliot. The undertaking was begun 
at the urgent request of Passaconnaway for the 
apostle to come among his people and teach them 
the " new light," and hiring one white man and 
several Indians to clear a way and blaze trees, the 
primitive path "from Nashaway to Namaske," 
which was to develop in the coming years into the 
" river road " between Manchester and the lower 
towns on the Merrimack, was completed in the 
early part of the fall of 1648. The following year 
Mr. Eliot intended to fulfill his promise of visiting 
the Indians at Amoskeag falls, but sickness pre- 
vented, and there is no proof that he ever carried 
out his good intentions. 

The people of Nuffield were early anxious to 
have a road through to Amoskeag falls, and 
tradition says that in order to fix the direction 
beyond mistake a huge bonfire was built near the 
latter place as a guide for the engineer. As early 
as 1724, say the records of Londonderry, a road 
was laid out " keeping near to the old path to 
Ammosceeg Falls." The course taken must have 
been from the east village in Londonderry to the 
"Three Pines" near Cohas brook, through what is 
now Manchester Centre and Hallsville, to the 
falls. This road was repaired in i 729, but the date 
of its construction is in doubt. Another old-time 
road of that period ran from Litchfield through 
the settlement of Goffe's Falls at tlie mouth of 
Cohas brook, past the site of Valley Cemetery and 
united with the first named at a point near the 
southeast corner of Tremont common. Cross- 
roads and paths running in directions best suited 
to the settlers, formed, with tlie main roads, the 
way of communication among the inhabitants of 
Ilarrytown. In the absence of the records of any 
public charge, it is fair to suppose that individuals 



63 



64 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



bore the expense of building and repairing these 
roads. 

There is no date to tell when the road 
through Piscataquog to Amoskeag falls was built, 
but it was doubtless the outgrowth of the early 
settlers going to and fro to the fishing places, 
following very nearly if not the same course of the 
bridle path cut for the Rev. John Eliot in 1648. 
It is mentioned in the records of Bedford for i 759, 
which show that the town repaired the road and 
built a bridge across the Piscataquog river. 

The first regularly laid out road after the 
incorporation of Derryfield was a link following 
the Cohas brook and connecting the Chester high- 
way, stopping at the lower end of Massabesic lake, 
and the Londonderry route to the falls. This 
gave Chester direct communication with the 
valley of the Merrimack. The record reads: 

October 3, 1751, then laid out a highway or town Rhoad 
for the use and benefit of said town Beginen at Chester Hne, at 
a pine tree marked H, then running by marked trees to a Brige 
upon the Amoskeag brook where the Rhoad now gows, then by 
marked trees ase the rhoad now gows to Daniel McNiel's to a 
pine tree marked 136, or as near to the marked tree as good 
ground will allow. Daniel McNiel, 

Nathaniel Boyd. 

William Perham, 

Self it men. 

This road led from the Centre to Amoskeag 
over the same course mentioned in the first Lon- 
donderry route, and would make it seem that the 
other had not been built. It was, however, more 
likely done as an official act, and that the road had 
been already made. The Chester line, which had 
marked the division between that town and Tyng 
township, was just this side of the site of the city 
reservoir. Amoskeag brook was the stream that 
still bears that name and Hows through the valley 
west of Hallsville, near the crossing of East Spruce 
and Belmont streets, the Old Falls road being 
a short section of the highwav mentioned. As 
has been related, this road crossed a corner of 
Tremont common, passing thence near to the 
junction of Myrtle and Chestnut streets, where 
Daniel McNiel's house stood, and on to the 
marked pine. From this point the work was 
resumed, and what was assumed to be a third road 
\vas then laid out, completing the route to Amos- 



keag falls and following in nearly the same course 
of the river road to Archibald Stark's place, where 
the State Industrial School is now located. 

On the same day we find that a jjortion of the 
road from Litchfield to Amoskeag, of which men- 
tion has been made, was duly recognized by the 
town in being laid out by the selectmen. This 
section extended as far as " Abraham Merrill's 
'dugway,' " which was at a sandhill near where 
the gasworks are located. The 27th of November 
the balance of this route to its junction with the 
Old Falls road at the southeast corner of Tremont 
common was dulv hiid out bv the selectmen. But 
the course taken by this part of the road proved 
unsatisfactory to the inhabitants living along the 
bank of the river and who had lumber to draw to 
the falls. Thus the following year two selectmen 
in sympathy with these disaffected ones being 
elected, and knowing the town would not vote to 
discontinue the road as laid out, they petitioned to 
the court as follows : 

To the Hon'ble His Majesty's Court of Gen- 
PROV. OF eral Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be 

NEW HAMPSHIRE, holden at Portsmouth, for the Province 
afores'd upon the P'irst Tuesday of .Septem- 
ber next Insuing. 
The petition of us, the .Selectmen of Derryfield, Humbly 
sheweth, that we apprehend that it is greatly necessary to ha\e 
a County Road Laid out from the head of nameskeg falls unto 
Litchfield, as near the river as the ground will admit, not only 
for the benefit of Travelors up and Down said River, but as our 
River has become a martime plase for Transporting Timber, 
Plank and Board, we know severall who have been injured very 
much for the want of said Road, and therefore we now earnestly 
Pray your Honours to take the Premises into your Considera- 
tion and grant us such Relief as the Law in such Cases Directs 
and your Petitioners as in Duty bound, shall forever pray. 

John Gofke 
.-Vrchidald Stark. 
Augt 20th, 1752. Sckctmcii. 

The court acted favorably to the petitioners, 
but the dissatisfaction of the town as a whole was 
so great that a special meeting was called, and 
Feb. 2, 1753, it was voted not to pav the court's 
cost, which amounted to /,'44. At the annual 
election following, in March, Messrs. Goffe and 
Stark failed of a re-election, and the new board of 
selectmen petitioned to the legislature for redress. 
Accordingly a committee of two, consisting of 



WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



65 



Richanl jcnness and Zel)ulon Gidding, were 
ap])ointed to " view the two ways" and give their 
conclusions. They differed in their reports, Mr. 
Jenness favoring the majority of the town and his 
colleagfue decidin<r that the road was needed. The 
outcome was that the petition for redress was dis- 
missed, leaving the town obliged not only to build 
the road, but to pay the costs, which were con- 
siderable by this time. The road was evidently 
needed. July 6, 1753, the road from the Centre 
to Derry line was laid out by William Perham and 
John Riddell, selectmen. 

March i, 1755, what is known as the Candia 
road, starting at the corner where McGregor Hall 
now lives and running to Voungsville, was laid 
out by William McClintock and John Hall, select- 
men. Jan. 16, 1756, the road to Martin's Ferrv 
was laid out by the selectmen, John Harvey and 
Daniel McNiel. These include the principal roads 
and sections of roads laid out up to this date, 
though the records show that the selectmen had 
accepted several more of minor importance. In 
fact, it had been necessary to relav out and accept 
all of those passing through what had been the 
territory of Harrytown, and to lav out new roads 
for the benefit of its inhabitants. 

All of the roads which have been designated 
were laid out three rods wide, except the river 
road, which was si.x rods in width. Others were 
laid out but two rods, though not many belonged 
to this class. As low as half a dollar an acre was 
allowed as land damage. It might be added that 
Chester records, Sept. y"' 16, 1748, show that the 
road from Mosquito pond to Smith's ferry was laid 
out four rods in width. Also a road to Capt. 
McClmtock's mill was laid out the same width as 
the last. 

The records of Narraganset township, No. 5, 
show that as early as 1739, in January, it was voted 
to raise ^20 "to rectify the way from Souhegan 
river to Piscataquog river." This vote was 
evidently fruitless, for the following year we find 
the matter again under consideration, and that it 
was voted in January and in June that 6s. 8d. in all 
be voted at the two meetings to meet the expense 
of opening up the way. Robert Walker was 
chosen committee to carry out the vote, and it is 
probable a cart road was that year made between 



the two rivers. As was the custom in those times, 
no provision was made for crossing the rivers, 
except by fording, and in 1757 Thomas Hall 
petitioned for a bridge across the Piscataquog. 
The town refusing to bear this expense, Mr. Hall 
entered a complaint for damages, when, securing 
judgment, a settlement was obtained and the first 
bridge over the Piscataquog river was built in 
1759-60. 

The " mast road," so called, was no doubt the 
first road from the west leading into what is now 
the territory of Manchester, and was the outgrowth 
of the teaming of ship's masts from the forests 
beyond the mast landing, or rolling place, at the 
mouth of the river. Many of these huge trees 
were brought as far as from New Boston and were 
noted for their excellent quality. The date of the 
development of this team path to what might be 
termed a road is not known. The records first 
refer to it as the "mast road" in 1756. when 
speaking of laying out a highway "beginning at 
the westerly end of the river range of home lots 
and running to the northwest corner of Samuel 
Patten's river home lot. No. 20." 

April 16, 1768, the records state that the 
selectmen laid out a road "beginning at the line 
of Bedford and Goffstown, where the mast road 
that was last improved crosses the said line, thence, 
as said mast road was formerly improved to the 
hill next to the mast rolling place, thence down 
on the south side of the said Piscataquog river to 
the mouth of said river, where it empties into the 
river ' Merrymac ' ; thence down said Merrymac 
about twenty five rods or so far as to take in the 
head of the eddy in the river next to the mouth of 
said Piscataquog: the whole of said road to be four 
rods wide from the top of the upper bank." 

In 1770, ten years after it was built, the 
bridge across the Piscataquog was decided unsafe, 
and it was rebuilt under the supervision of Major 
John Goffe. This bridge seemed to be a source of 
considerable expense, as it was necessary to repair 
or rebuild it about every ten years, until it was re- 
built in 1843. It was again rebuilt, of stone, in 1895. 

Oct. 30, 1792, referring again to the records 
of Derryfield, it was voted " not to accept the 
Roads from the Bridge to the meeting house," 
but it was voted "to accept the road from the 



66 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



meeting house to Londonderry line by Coming's 
mills." It was this meeting that voted to annex 
Henrysburgh to the town. September 7, 1793, it 
was voted "to discontinue or not to have aroad from 
Amoskeag to Humphrey's brook." This was a 
portion of the original road from Londonderry to 
Amoskeag falls, Humphrey's being but another 
name for Amoskeag or Cemetery brook, as it is 
sometimes called. At this time there were seven 
highway districts. March 3, 1800, it was voted 
to raise one dollar on a poll for highway ta.x. 
A man's wages was fixed at four shillings a day, 
and ten cents an hour to be allowed for a good 
horse. In 1806 the town was divided into eight 
highway districts. March 14, 1809, it was voted 
to petition to have the road from Amoskeag bridge 
to Deer Neck, Chester, now Auburn, discontinued. 
This road ran past or near to the meeting-house at 
the Centre. 

March 14, 18 15, it was voted to open a road 
from McGregor bridge to Hall road, and June 6, 
181 7, " the selectmen opened a road on the reserve 
land from the great pond by Levi Russel's and 
John Proctor's to the road leading from the 
meeting house to the road leading to John Frye's." 
In 1818 there were nine highway districts. March 
14, 1820, it was voted at the annual election to set 
apart highway district No. 10. 

After having discussed the feasibility of the 
scheme for some time, in 182 1 the citizens of 
Concord and Lowell, Mass., urged on by the pro- 
prietors of the stage lines connecting those places 
and many of the inhabitants along the route, began 
a determined effort to establish a more direct high- 
way than was then existing between the two 
towns. A survey was made beginning at Paw- 
tucket bridge and leading through Dracut, Pelham, 
Windham. Londonderry, Manchester, and to a 
union with the Londonderry turnpike in Hook- 
sett, thence by that road to Concord, a route 
pronounced perfectly feasible. But immediate 
opposition was met along the entire line by those 
who could see but little if any direct benefit 
coming from so expensive an enterprise, and the 
proposed thoroughfare was christened in no 
uncertain terms "the Mammoth Road." The 
strongest opposition was met in Londonderry and 
Manchester, so at the annual meeting here, March 



8, 1823, it was unanimously voted not "to join in 
the building of such part of the road as came in 
this town." It proved that the projectors had at 
least one friend here, for Sept. 8 of the same year, 
through the efforts of Capt. Ephraim Stevens, Jr., 
a special meeting was called, when the road was 
again voted down, the ballot being 45 to 1 " not to 
join in the laying out of a road from Hooksett to 
Pawtucket falls." It was further voted that Joseph 
Moor be an agent " to join the committee chosen 
by the town of Londonderry to oppose the laying 
out and opening of the road," etc. Those favor- 
ing the enterprise petitioned to the county court 
to assist them. This caused the opposition in this 
town to call a special meeting July 26, 1828, which 
was adjourned to August 16, when it voted to 
choose an agent to oppose the building of the 
road, and Daniel Watts was chosen to act in that 
capacity, subject to the advice of the selectmen. 
At its session in October, 1830, the court proved 
its friendship to the road by ordering that it be 
built so far as it was within the limits of this 
county. 

Still, the citizens of Manchester were deter- 
mined not to yield as long as possible, and March 8, 
1 83 1, it was voted to petition the county for leave 
to discontinue that portion of the Mammoth road 
in this town, or, "if failing to accomplish that, to 
make an extension of time and liberty to alter the 
road as the interests of the town may require and 
the public good permit." This action onl}^ served 
to delay the work on the road, which was doubt- 
less the intention, and again, March 13, 1832, it 
was "voted to discontinue the Mammoth road if 
the county does not object." 

The hopelessness of pursuing the fight must 
even then have been apparent ; the court soon 
after decided that the road should be built as 
originally intended, when Nov. 5, 1832, the town 
voted "to build the Mammoth road through Man- 
chester ! " At the meeting, March 1 i, 1834, it was 
voted to raise $750 to lay out on the Mammoth 
road. This vote was made necessary by the 
demand, which would brook no more delay. The 
rest of the road had been nearly completed and the 
neglect of this town was deemed a public damage. 
The following summer work was V)egun in earnest. 
Once more the matter of the Mammoth road 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



67 



appears in the records of the town, this time a 
vote to discontinue "that part of Mammoth Road 
commencing at a sycamore tree westerly of Isaac 
Huse's dwelling house, thence southerly 8^ 
degrees, thence east 55 rods to the old road." This 
was done, as this town in building the road had 
followed a more feasible and less "expensive route 
at this ]X)int, and the court had granted them 
leave to place the substitute in lieu of the original 
survcv. This was Nov. 7, 1836, sixteen years from 
the beginning of the contest which had ruined 
several of those interested in the great undertaking 
for those times, and which had cost the towns 
dearlv for small returns. A little over five years 
later the steam horse was drawing its long train of 
coaches and freight cars u]) and down the valley 
of the Merrimack ; the stage horses were relegated 
to farm work ; centres of population changed, and 
without sufficient travel at sections to retain the 
wheel-marks of the old, dethroned stages left to 
decav, the Mammoth road became little more than 
a vanishing memento of the dreams of its short- 
sighted projectors. 

In 1836 a new highway district was set off, 
making the eleventh in town. March 14, 1837, 
the matter of building another road, which had 
aroused considerable opposition among the 
majority of citizens, reached what seemed its 
climax, when it was " voted not to do anything 
regarding the road laid out by the court of com- 
mon pleas from Amoskeag bridge to Chester." 
The road leading through East Manchester from 
Lake Avenue to the corner at McGregor Hall's 
place and thence through Youngsville to Auburn 
and called the " Candia Road " is a portion of the 
road proposed at that time. This opposition was 
not of recent origin, for the records show that at 
least the part of this road from Mr. Hall's to 
Youngsville was laid out by the selectmen as far 
back as 1755. In November, 1837, however, the 
town voted to build the road, and chose Benjamin 
Mitchell agent. At the annual meeting in March, 
[838, it was voted to borrow $2,300 for the 
purpose of building this piece of road, but the 
selectmen evidently neglected to do this, for Dec. 
13 we find them again authorized to raise that sum 
" to make the Candia Road." This year three 
new highway districts were added to the list, 



making fourteen in all. As late as Oct. 26, 1839, 
we find it recorded that the town voted to com- 
plete the Candia road. At this meeting it was 
" voted to discontinue that portion of the road 
from Amoskeag bridge to Manchester street, if 
the court does not object." It is presumed there 
was no objection, as no farther record is found 
relative to the matter. At the same meeting the 
road leading from Amoskeag bridge to Janesville, 
that running from David A. Bunton's, afterwards 
the S. B. Kidder house, near the falls to Stark 
house, and another leading from the south side of 
Granite street to "the point below Stark's mills 
where Canal street intersects the same," were all 
discontinued, with a view to make a better street 
arrangement. The Nutt road was laid out thisyear. 
In fact, the historv of the roads from this 
time is relegated to the background by the 
accounts of the building of streets. From time to 
time we find sections of highways discontinued 
to allow the march of improvement, but there is 
no mention of roads of any importance being built. 
Manchester is now divided into twelve highway 
districts, and each was under the charge of a 
surveyor elected annually by the city government, 
until by virtue of an act of the state legislature 
April I, 1893, they were superseded by a board of 
street and park commissioners of three members, 
one of each elected by city councils biennially for 
a term of six years. This board has the entire 
management of the building and maintaining of 
the streets, highways, bridges, lanes, sidewalks, 
drains, public sewers, parks, and commons of the 
city, and appointing the subordinate officers 
necessary to carry out this work. 

STREETS. 

In 1838 the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com- 
pany had a plan made for what was to prove the 
heart of the future city, laying out the original 
streets in regular order, thus making the founda- 
tion for that systematic network of thoroughfares 
that is rightly the pride of the town. May 5, 1840, 
upon petition of this company, the selectmen 
officially accepted Elm street from the old road 
near Mrs. Young's to Lowell street as already 
built by the Amoskeag Company, and thence laid 



68 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



out northerly " till it intersects the old road from 
Manchester town house to Amoskeag; falls in the 
same direction as the same is now laid out and 
made from Lowell street to Bridge street of the 
breadth of one hundred feet, twelve feet on each 
side to be for sidewalks, and ten feet in the centre 
for ornamental trees. To be from Bridge street 
north only fifty feet in the centre opened and used 
by the public till the adjacent land is sold." 
Bridge street was laid out from Elm westerly to 
the bridge across the upper canal sixty feet wide, 
and from the west end of said bridge to the old 
river road forty feet wide. The company, in 
laving out this street, agreed to build and maintain 
a bridge across their canal and become accountable 
for any and all damages which might occur from 
neglect of repairs. The selectmen further laid out 
Lowell, Concord, Amherst, and Hanover streets 
till thcv intersected with the road from the town 
house to the falls, the first and last each fifty feet 
wide and the others forty feet. Manchester street 
already laid out to said road fifty feet wide, was 
accepted ; Pine, from Lowell to Hanover, as 
already made, forty feet wide, thence to Manches- 
ter fifty feet in width ; Chestnut, from Amherst to 
ILinover, forty feet wide, and then to Merrimack 
fifty feet in width. Seven feet on each side of all 
these streets were reserved for sidewalks. 

The increase of streets soon became very 
rapid, making them too numerous to admit of 
detailed description here. Elm street has become, 
as it was intended, the main business thorough- 
fare and now extends from Baker on the south to 
a point opposite the State Industrial School on 
the north, a distance of two and three-fourths 
miles, with a certainty that it will be soon con- 
tinued considerably farther at both terminals. 
It follows nearly the direction of the river, and 
though the elm trees planted along its centre by 
its projectors were long ago destroyed by the gas 
escaping from leaky pipes, the last dying in 1855, 
and the majority of those set next to the sidewalks 
have been removed for one reason and another, 
it is nevertheless, with its well kept stone paving, 
its great width, its uniformity of course, its impos- 
ing business blocks, one of the handsomest, as well 
as one of the longest streets in New England. 

Running parallel with Elm street there are 



on the west Franklin, Bedford, State, and Canal 
streets, the latter following nearly the track of the 
old river road from its junction with Elm street 
on the south to falls bridge on the north. On the 
east of Elm, counting only those streets that 
extend through the heart of the city, are Chestnut 
from Auburn to Clarke; Pine, from Nutt road to 
opposite 76 Webster ; Union, from Nutt road to 
River road north near Hooksett line; Beech, from 
Brown avenue to Salmon street ; Maple, from 
Cilley to Gore ; Lincoln, from Cilley to Amherst ; 
Wilson, from Clay to Hanover; Hall, from Clav 
to Harrison ; Belmont, from Clay to Harrison. 

At right angles to the above streets, beginning 
on the south with Cilley road, there are Baker and 
Shasta, Clay, Somerville, Silver, Harvard, Pres- 
cott. Young, Merrill, Valley, Green, Grove, Sum- 
mer, Auburn, Cedar, Spruce, Lake avenue, Cen- 
tral, Laurel, Merrimack, Manchester, Hanover, 
Amherst, Concord, Lowell, High, Bridge, Pearl, 
Orange, Myrtle, Prospect, Harrison, Brook, Blod- 
get, Pennacook, Sagamore, Salmon, North, Web- 
ster, Appleton, Clarke. 

The streets on the west side of the Merri- 
mack, conforming more to old lines of travel, are 
of less regularity than those in the east section. 
'Ihe principal ones are Main, from Granite to 
Mill opposite P'ront at Amoskeag; South Main, 
from 354 Granite to Bedford line; Mast, from 
Main near bridge to Goffstown line; North Bed- 
ford, from Mast to Bedford line ; Granite, from 
Elm across river to Weare and Henniker railroad ; 
Milford, from South Main to Bedford line ; 
Amherst is the outgrowth of the old road to the 
Souhegan. Front street is the only one of impor- 
tance at Amoskeag, and that with Main of Pis- 
cataquog follows the course of the old road from 
the up-country to Boston. 

Manchester had, Jan. i, 1896, 109.297 miles of 
streets, 61.25 miles of roads, 8.36 miles of avenues, 
making an aggregate of 177.907 miles of streets, 
roads, and avenues. It had 121.297 miles of walks 
in the city proper, 0.897 m'les of walks in the 
suburbs, and 628 miles on avenues, sfivinor -^ total 
of 128.953 niiles. It had over 90 miles of shade 
trees, 4.899 miles of macadam, and 56.236 miles of 
sewers. Its entire area comprises over 21,700 
acres, or 33.906 square miles. 



WlLLErS BOOK OF NUFFIELD. 



7» 



halting them a 
few steps from 
the house, rode 
up to the door 
in great style. 
Susan caught 
up her bundle 
from behind 
the hall door, 
and before anv 
of the family 
knew what was 
going on, had 
mounted the 
horse behind 
her lover, and 
the party had 
started for a 
minister. Noth- 
ing was done to 

interfere with the wedding, and Mr. and Mrs. Burn- 
side settled down to housekeeping, to the great in- 
dignation of the MacGregors, who refused to visit 
them. Mrs. Burnside, however, sought to over- 



Village and was not liked by the stricter Presby- Burnside, however, did not hesitate a moment, and 
terians, especially by the MacGregors. Susan's touching the door lightly with his hand, he vaulted 
])arents opposed the intimacy between her and over it and sat down beside his wife, to the amaze- 
Burnside. but their mutual afifection ripened, and ment of the congregation and the mortification of 
failing to secure the consent of her father and the MacGregors. Such audacity was unbearable, 
mother, Susan determined to elope. The arrange- and James MacGregor seized the young man by 
ments were quietly made by procuring a license the shoulders and would have pitched him out of 
from the (iovernor, and the time was set. Susan the pew but for the timely remonstrance of the 
prepared her wardrobe, tied it in a bundle, and on scandalized pastor. Stopping in the midst of his 
the day of the wedding placed it behind the door sermon, Rev. David McGregor called out : 
that opened into the stairway in the front hall. " Brother James, do not disturb the house of God ! " 
Burnside gathered his friends on horseback, and This restored order, and the young couple remained 

together. But 
the MacGre- 
gors did not 
visit Susan un- 
til after the 
birth of her 
tirst child, when 
it wascommon- 
1\- reported that 
she was in deli- 
cate health and 
might not live 
long. Then 
they relented, 
and were in a 
measure recon- 
ciled to the mar- 
riage. It is said 
that the issue 
of thismarriaije 




FIRST framf:d house in nutfield. 



became renowned in the succeeding generations and 
one of the sons was a general in the Revolutionary 
war. This Susan MacGregor and James, 2nd, were 
the onlv children of Alexander, the son of the Rev. 
come their scruples by taking her husband to James, first pastor of this town. Alexander married 
church the following Sunday. With great assur- and settled in Rhode Island, and died after the birth 
ance she marched up the aisle a little late, followed of these two children. His widow married an Allen 
bv her husband, and stopped in front of her uncle and remained in Rhode Island, but the two chil- 
James MacGregor's pew. He instantly opened dren were brought to Londonderry and raised in 
the pew door and let her in, but seeing Burnside the family of James MacGregor, who figures as 
he suddenly closed the door and shut him out. the uncle in this story. 




GUN USED BY REV. JAMES MACGREGOR. 



HON. GEORGE C. HAZELTON. 



HON. GEORGE C. HAZELTON, of Wash- 
ington, D. C, was born in Chester, at the 
old homestead on Wahiut hill, being one of six 
children, four brothers and two sisters. His father, 
William Hazelton, was of English, and his mother, 
whose maiden name was Mercy J. Cochrane, of 
Scotch descent. John Cochrane, his maternal 
grandfather, spoke the vernacular dialect of Scot- 
land and was quite familiar with the history and 
literature of that country, being especially fond of 
Scott and Burns, many of whose poems, it is said, 
he could recite from memory. From their mother 
the children largely derived their love of learning 
and the ambition to acquire it. Their schooldays 
fell within the latter part of the first half of the 
nineteenth century, a period when the district 
school furnished very meagre educational facilities, 
and when those who would avail themselves of 
greater advantages had to resort cither to private 
tutorage or to the academy. Under such circum- 
stances Rockingham county was especially for- 
tunate in the opportune establishment of two great 
institutions of learning, Phillips Academy at Exeter 
and Pinkerton at Derry. The latter, not less than 
the former, appeared at the right time and was 
located in a community from which it has com- 
manded a liberal patronage, and to which it has 
always been an inspiration and a great force in 
the development of the cause of education. The 
district school advanced but little bevond the rudi- 
ments of the common English branches ; the 
academy, well organized, with ample curriculum, 
was competent to qualify the student for the busi- 
ness pursuits of life, to educate him in the higher 
English branches, and in the classics for admission 
to any college. It was distinguished for its train- 
ing and discipline in the art of composition, of 
public declamation, and especially for the lyceum, 
or forum of debate, which it always maintained — 
all of which gave culture, tievelopment, and 
strength to the student's mental powers and laid 
the foundation for the discharge of public duties 
in after life of the highest value and consideration. 
Mr. Hazelton began his ct)urse of studv at 
Pinkerton Academy in 1849, leaving the institution 
in 1855 to enter Union College, New York, at the 



beginning of the sophomore year. Sometimes he 
was engaged during this period in teaching a dis- 
trict school in the winter, and he spent one year of 
the time, under Professor Henshaw, in the study 
of the classics at Dummer Academy in Massachu- 
setts. Chester, of all the surrounding towns, was 
at that time the most generous patron of Pinkerton 
Academy. Notable among others who prepared 
there for their college course were Charles, the son 
of Hon. John Bell, and George, John, Louis, and 
Charles, sons of Senator Bell ; also the sons of Dr. 
Kittridge, the three Hazelton brothers — Gerry 
Whiting, George C, the subject of this sketch, and 
Joim Franklin, — M. W. Tewsbury, Franklin 
Crreenleaf, Timothy Hazelton and others. To 
these the academv was accessible, and they were 
accustomed to return to their homes over Sundav, 
which somewhat lessened the expense of attend- 
ance upon the academv, a matter of careful con- 
sideration in those economical davs. During this 
period, following Mr. Hildreth, the pioneer princi- 
pal, Emery, Parker, Row, Humphrey, Glassv, Po- 
land, Professor Henshaw, and John W. Rav offi- 
ciated as teachers of the academy. Under their 
instruction it took high rank, but especially so 
under the guidance of Professor Henshaw, who 
possessed rare skill and ability as a teacher of the 
classics and of higher mathematics in (jualifving 
students for admission to colleges and universities. 
He was called from his academic chair of useful- 
ness here to take charge of Dummer Academy, 
and thence became one of the leading professors 
in Rutgers College, New Jersey, where, after a 
career of distinguished service in the cause of edu- 
cation, he tlied. 

Among the contemporaries of Mr. Ha/elton 
at the aca(lem\' were the Folsom brothers, the 
Brickett brothers, Paul and George, Aiken, Ben 
Warner, whose untimely death was a public calam- 
itv, W^iUace W. Poore, with whom Mr. Hazel- 
ton has ever since maintained intimate friendlv 
relations, J. G. Woodbury, nephew of Judge Le\i 
Woodburv of national fame, Goodwin of the Craw- 
ford House in Boston, Tewsbury, a graduate of 
Dartmouth ami one of the leading teachers of 
Massachusetts at the time of his death, the Chases 



72 



I 





<S^^:>^ 



n'/L LET'S book: of nutfield. 



75 



(if DLTr\-, Roberts of Massachusetts, and, in 1855, 
while under the instruction of John W. Rav, Har- 
riet Prescott Spofford, who has attained jironii- 
nence in American hterature, and many others. 

Mr. Hazelton early beyan to participate in the 
debates in the lyceum, and with Woodbury, Poore, 
Roberts, and others, is still remembered as one of 
its leadinor spirits. He often recurs to this expe- 
rience as among- the most valuable of his educa- 
tional advantaoes, to which his success in his 
profession and in public life is larijely indebted. 

Few of the sons of Pinkerton Academy have 
been more devoted to their alma mater than he. 
He returned to take part in the dedication of the 
new buildino;, erected upon the foundation of the 
old, around which man\- of his tenderest memories 
clustered, and was at that time elected president of 
the Alumni Association of the Academv. 

His life has been a most successful one. He 
was sjraduated at Union Colleo^e, was admitted to 
the bar in the state of New York, practised his 
jirofession in Schenectady for a time, and in 1863 
moved to Wisconsin, tt) enter upon its practice 
there, which state was his residence until 1884, 
when he made his permanent home in Washington. 
While a citizen of Wisconsin, her people honored 
him with such public trusts as district attorney of 
( irant county, as state senator for four years, and 
a^ member of the national Congress for six years. 
Since his residence in Washington he has held the 
office of attorney for the District of Columbia, 
under an api)ointment conferred by President 
Harrison. Mr. Hazelton's political career has 
been so well described in the Encyclopa,»dia of 
Eminent and Representative Men of Virginia and 
the District of Columbia, a volume of rare merit, 
l)ul)lished in 1893, that permission has been sought 
and obtained to reproduce herewith an extract from 
that work. It is as follows : 

Mr. Hazelton was elected to the Wisconsin state senate in 
1867, and was chosen president pro tempore of that body. He 
was again elected to the senate in 1869. At the e.xpiration of 
his last terra in the state senate he gave five years of close and 
diligent attention to the practice of law in the United States 
and state courts. Here he soon became known as one of the 
leading lawyers of Wisconsin. His success as a jury lawyer was 
most marked, and soon gave him an extensive practice and a 
wide experience. If he was anything he was an active and 
ajdent republican. Kach recurring canvass found him vigorously 



engaged. The result was that he was again called upon to 
represent his fellow-citizens, this time in the national legislature, 
lieing elected to the Forty-Fifth Congress in November, 1876. 
He entered Congress at a time when he found himself numbered 
among the republican minority, wlien the democratic majority 
controlled legislation, and when their speaker denied the new mem- 
bers of the house a just and fair recognition u])on the floor in de- 
bate upon pending measures. But he was not thus to be repressed. 
Wherever opportunity offered, his readiness and ability to state 
a point with rare terseness and force soon began to command 
the attention of the house. Such was the state of affairs when 
he was renominated in 1878, and at once took the stump on the 
republican financial platform. Both greenbackers and democrats 
united to beat him, and it was only by the most persuasive 
speeches and untiring labor that he overcame the majority and 
was re-elected to the Forty-Sixth Congress. In the first session 
of this Congress he had the first opportunity to show the real 
quality of his intellect. April 24. 1879, when the majority were 
threatening the immeiliate rejjeal of the reconstruction measures, 
he delivered a speech in the house of representatives on the 
■' Powers of Government," in which he not only exhibited a 
thorough knowledge of the legal and political jihases of the ques- 
tion, but a boldness of thought in a])plying ])rinciples, that clearly 
showed that he had been a close student of our political history. 
And when the majority were attempting to impede the resumj)- 
tion of specie payments, at the same session, on Feb. 22, he 
spoke on the subject of the national banks and their resum])tion 
of specie payments. This speech, made in favor of honest 
money and national good faith, was one of his best efforts. It 
attracted much attention at the time and was widely jniblished 
and commented upon in the daily press. His efibrts during 
this session ranked him among the best orators in the 
house, and in the autumn of that year he was invited to go to 
California and assist in the canvass in that state. The election 
was for members of Congress, and it was regarded as a test 
election of the coming national campaign of 1880. The repub- 
licans carried the state, and it was conceded that no man from 
outside of it contributed more to that success than Mr. Hazelton. 
He dehvered an oration at the famous Arlington cemetery on 
Decoration day. May 29, 1880. This speech was also published 
in the daily press and in pamphlet form, and the Union soldiers 
all over the land spoke of it in the warmest terms. He has ever 
been their energetic and faithful friend. In 1880 he was renom- 
inated for the third time and was most triumphantly re-elected, 
his majority ranking among the highest ever given in his con- 
gressional district for any man since the close of the Rebellion. 
.... In December, 1890, he was appointed attorney for the 
District of Columbia, of which office he is still the incumbent. 
He is admitted to jiractice in all the New York court.s, the 
United States Supreme court, and the courts of Wisconsin 
and the District of Columbia. 

There is, therefore, no doubt that Mr. Hazel- 
ton, as a representative, student, graduate, and 
alumnus of Pinkerton Academy, is fairly entitled 
to the place that has been assigned to him in the 
present work. 



TITULARY LITIGATIONS. 



PRIOR to the arrival of the colony that settled 
in Nutfield, various grants of land in New 
England had been issued bv the Crown covering 
the period of a centurv. In addition t(i the owner- 
shij) of lands obtained bv the possession of royal 
charters, as some of the settlers were particulaidy 
conscientious about depriving the peaceable In- 
dians of their natural heritage without reasonable 
compensation, numerous deeds were obtained from 
the Indian chiefs, so that it became extremelv 
difficult to ascertain the extent of occupied terri- 
tories, and consequentlv impossible to assign new 
territories tliat should be entirely free from former 
owners or claimants. There were these two sources 
of titulary possession and ownership, royal grants 
and Indian grants, and those who emigrated to New 
England on account of alleged persecutions and dis- 
criminations in the old country, generallv preferred 
to obtain their lands in the new country without 
seeking farther than was absolutelv necessary the 
assistance of that royal government whose author- 
ity to them had appeared partial and oppressive. 
Before arrangements were made for embarking 
with all their possessions to New England, a large 
number of men in the north of Ireland signed and 
forwarded a petition to the governor of these 
colonies asking preliminary questions relative to 
the plan of emigration and a portion of unoccu- 
pied land on which to settle with their families. 
As this petition may be of interest hereafter in 
tracing families who came to Londonderry and 
other parts of New England or this country, a 
copy is here inserted ; 

To His Excellency the Right Honorable Colonel Samuel 
Shute, (Governor of New England. 

We, whose names are underwritten, inhabitants of the North 
of Ireland, do in our own names, and in the names of many others 



our neighbors, gentlemen, ministers, farmers, and tradesmen, com- 
missionate anil appoint our trusty and well beloved friend, the Rev. 
William Boyd of Macasky, to His Excellency the Right Honor- 
able Colonel Samuel Shute, Governor of New England, and to 
assure His Excellency of our sincere and hearty inclination to 
transport ourselves to that very excellent and renowned planta- 
tion upon our obtaining from His Excellency suitable encourage- 
ment. And further to act and do in our names as his ])rudence 
shall direct. Given under our hands th s 26th day of March, 
Annoque Domini 1718. Jaines Tratte, V. 1). M. : Thomas Cob- 
bam, V. I). M. : Robert Houston, V. I). M. : William Leech, 
V. D. M. ; Robert Higginbotham. V. 1). M. : John Porter. 
V. I). M, : Hen. Neille, V. L). U. -. Tho. Elder, V. I). M. : 
James Thomson, V. I). M. ; William ICer, Will. McAlben. 
[ahon Anderson. George Greye, Andrew Dean, Alexander Dun- 
lop, M. A. : Arch. M. Cook, M. A. ; Alex'r Blair, B. Ccc'iran. 
William (ialt, Peter Thompson, Richard McLoughlin, John 
Muar, William Jeameson, Wm. Agnevv, Jeremiah Thomjuon, 
John Mitchell, James Paterson, Josej^h Curry, David WlUson, 
Patrick Anderson, John Gray, James Grey, Alexander McBride. 
Bart., Samuel McGivorn, John Hurdock, Geo. Campbell, James 
Shorswood, John McEoughlin, George McLoughlin, James 
Hune, Thomas Ramsay, Francis Ritchie, lames (rregg, Robert 
Boyd, Hugh Tarbel, David 'I'arbel, John i">- X '"a^ Robb, Jeatles 
FuUtone, Robert Wear, Alexander Donnaldson, Arch'd Duglass, 
Robert Stivin, Robert Henry, James Pettey, 1 )avid Bigger, 
David Patterson, David (illegible), John Wight. Joseph Wight. 
Robt. Willson, James Ball, Andrew Cord, James Nesmith, John 
Black, John Thompson, Samuel Boyd, Lawrence McLaughlin, 
John Heslet, George McAlester, Thomas Ramadge, James 
Campbell, David Lindsay, Robert Givern, James Laidlay, Ben- 
jamin Gait, Daniel Todd, Robert Barr, Hugh Hollmes, Robert 
King, John Black, l-'eter Christy, James Smith, James Smith, 
Patrick Smith, Samuel Ceverelle, James Craig, Samuel Wilson, 
M. A, (iawen Jirwen, Robert Miller, Thomas Wilson, William 
Wilson, James Brice, Ninian Pattison, James Thompson, John 
Thompson, Robert Thompson, Adam Thompson, Alexander 
Pattison, Thomas Dunloii, John Willson, David Willson, John 
Moor, James McKeen, John Lamont, John Smith, Patrick Orr, 
Boriill OiT, William Orr, John Orr. Jeams Lenox, John Leslie. 
John Lason, John Calvil, Samuel Wat, James Crawford, David 
Henderson, Mathew Storah {?), David Widborn, Luk A\'at. 
Robert Hendee, William Walas, Thomas Walas, Thomas Cecoch 
(?), William Boyd, William Christy, John Boyd, William Boyd, 



76 



BALLOU- McGregor, 



EDWARD BALLOU, the son of Jonathan and Fel). 6, 1 841, married Georsjc A. Seavey of Wind- 
Janet (McGregor) Ballon, was ht)rn in Deer- ham, whose sketch is given elsewhere ; (9) Nancy 
field, Nov. 5, 1799, and was employed in his father's R., horn May 21, 1843, married to Caleb Clark of 
store until he came to Lt)ndonderry and settled at Windham, Sept. 6, 1865, by Rev. L. S. Parker of 

Derry, and had three children : Lilly, died young ; 
Edward B., born 1872 ; Mary Louise, born 1874, a 
popular teacher in Windham ; (10) Samuel E., born 
Aug. 29, 1845, unmarried; (11) E.Louisa, born 
June 25, 1848, took care of her mother's aunt in 
Boston many years and inherited her fortune, mar- 
ried Thomas Chapman, and with her husband lives 
in Windham ; (12) Edwin L. Parker, born April 25, 
185 1, married Mrs. Sarah Josephine Clay Johnson 
and lives on the John Bell place at the upper end 
of the Aiken Range in Derrv. 

Edward Ballon, the father, was a justice of the 
peace, served as selectman in Derrv several years, 
was representative in the legislature two vears, and 
died Sept. 19, 1863. James MacGregor Ballou is 
living (1895). 




EDWARD 1;ALL0U. ' 

the upper end of the Aikens Range, where tlie 
familv has since lived. Nov. 13, 1823, he married 
Isabella D. MacGregor, daughter of James and 
Rosanna (Aiken) MacGregor, who lixed on the 
Major John Pinkerton place, lately occupied by 
Alexander MacGregor, and now in the possession 
(if Deacon T. T. Moore. This marriage was sol- 
emnized bv Rev. Daniel Dana of Londonderrv, and 
twelve children blessed the union : (1) George W., 
born Jan. iq, 1825, who was never married and 
carries on the farm ; (2) Samuel A., born March 3, 
1827, died Sept. 16, 1843 ; (3) Jennette McG., born 
April 19, 1829; (4) Rosanna A., born Maieh 8, 
1831, died Feb. 20, 1833 ; (5) Nancy McG., born 
Aug. 31, 1833, died Feb. 10, 1837 ; (6) Sarah W., 
born Dec. 21, 1835, a school teacher, married to 
William S. Baker of Portsmouth Sej)!. 14, 1858, by The father of Mrs. Ballou was l)orn in Lon- 

Rev. E. N. Hidden of Derrv; no children; she donderry March 28, 1777, and married Rosanna 
died Sept. 11, 1S65 ; (7) Isabella McD., born Sept. Aiken of Chester, Dec. 22, 1803. She was born 
26, 1838, died Jid)- 31, 1855; (8) Mary B., born March 2, 1784, the daughter of Samuel and Isa- 

69 




ISABKIJ.A D. (MACGREGOR) BALLOU. 



70 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



bella (McDole) Aiken. The marriacje was per- 
formed by Rev. Mr. Colby (jf Chester, now a part 
of Auburn. Their ehildren were : (i) Agnes, born 
Oct. lo, 1804, died July 15, iSii ; (2) Isabella D., 
married Edward Ballou ; (3) Alexander, born 
Nov. 6, 1809, married Sarah Wyse ; (4) Lewis A., 
born Aug. 12, 18 12, married a Whittier and Au- 
gusta Bhxlgett ; (5) Eliza Jane, born July 14, 1820 ; 
(6) John A., born Oct. 14, 1822. 

After the death of Mr. MacGregor the widow 
married Dearborn Whittier of Hooksett, Jan. 3, 
1827. She died Nov. 23, 1867; he was killed by 
the cars at Wilson's Crossing, Jan. 26, 1850. Mrs. 
Ballou had her first child in her arms when she 
shook hands with Lafayette at East Derrv in 1824. 

James MacGregor, the second of the name in 
Londonderrv, and father of James 3rd, married 
Agnes Cochran. Their children were : (i) Jennet, 
who married Jonathan Ballou of Deerfield and had 
a family of children ; (2) Marv Ann, who never 
married ; (3) Rev. David, of whom a portrait is 
herewith given ; he graduated at Dartmouth, 
studied theology, became a Presbyterian clergyman 
and was the first settled pastor of the society in 
Bedford. He married Mary Butterfield of Hano- 
ver, and after her death he married Mary Orr of 




Bedford ; she died, and his third wife was Rebecca 
Merrill of Londonderry. He left children. (4) 
Alexander, who married Polly Pinkerton and lived 
in Londonderry, and he had one son, John P., 
adopted by Major John Pinkerton. (5) Susan, 
who married Thomas Bassett, a storekeeper in 



Londonderry, who had previously kept a store i 
Deerfield ; they had a son, Thomas, who became 
physician and settled in Kingston. (6) Rober 
who married Polly Hovens of Rhode Island an 
lived there some years, until the death of Joh 
MacGregor, when he returned to Londonderry an 




REV. DAVID MACGREi;OR. 

settled at the Upper Village. He afterward bough 
the farm where Reed P. Clark lately lived in Lor 
donderr\', and lived there, raising a large famil}^ c 
cliildren, and some of the descendants remain ther 
still. (7) Betsey, never married. (8) Polly, mai 
rietl Jonatlian Emerson, lived on the Pinkerto 
])lace on the turnpike, and had one son. (9) Jame; 
of whom an account is given elsewhere. 

Mrs. Ballou remembers this elopement stor 
of the MacGregors : Rev. James MacGregoi 
first ])astor of the church in Londonderry, had did 
and his son. Rev. David, was then pastor of th 
East Parish church. Alexander, another son, livei 
on some of the MacGregor lands where the Moi 
risons recently lived, and where the old MacGrego 
house, the first framed house in Londonderry, wa 
still standing a few years ago. James, anothe 
brother, had a pew in the meeting-house. Susan 
a daughter of Alexander MacGregor, fell in lov^ 
with one Burnside, who kept a store in the Eas 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



77 



Hugh Orr, Robert Johnston, Thomas Black. Peter Murray, John 
Jameson, John Cochran, Samuel (ionston, Thomas Shadey, 
William Ker, Thomas Moore, .\ndrew Watson, John Thonson, 
lames McKerrall. Hugh Stockman, Andrew Cochran, James 
Carkley, Lawrence Dod, Sandes Mear, John Jackson. James 
Curry, James Elder, James Acton, Samuel Smith, Andrew Dody, 
lames Forsaith. Andrew Fleming. Ciorge Thomson, James 
Brouster, Thomas (illegible). James Beverlan. Peter Simpson, 
Thomas McLoughlin, Robert Boyd. Andrew Agnew. James 
King. Thomas Elder, Daniel Johnston, Robert Walker, David 
(onston, lames Steuart, John Murray. Thomas Blackwel. Thomas 
Wilson, John Ross, William Johnston. John King, Andrew 
Curry, John (illegible). Samuel Code. |ames Blak. Thomas Gro, 
'{"homas Ouston, Jame Gro, John Clark. Thomas McFader. 
David Hanson. Richard Acton. James Claire, Jacob Clark, 
Abram Baberley, Steven Murdock, Robert Murdock, John Mur- 
dock, William Jennson, 
James Rodger, John Buy- 
ers, Robert Smith, Adam 
Dean, Randall Alexander, 
Thomas Boyd, Hugh 
Rogers, John Craig, Wm. 
Boyle, Benj. Boyle, Ja. 
Kenedy, M. Stirling, 
Samuel Ross, John Ram- 
say, John McKeen, James 
Willsone, Robert McKeen, 
John Boyd, Andrew Dun- 
la];, James Ramsay, 
William Park, John 
Blair, James Thompson, 
Lawrence McLoughhn, 
Will. Campibell, James 
Bankhead. Andrew Pat- 
rick. James McFee, James 
Tonson (?), George Anton, 
George Kairy, Thomas 
Freeland, Thomas Hunter, 
Daniel i.i»Xm«tk McKer- 
rell, Horgos hu X "ark Ken- 
edey, John ws X mark Suene, 
Adam i>i. X m.rk Ditkoy, Alexander Kid, Thomas Lorie, Thomas 
Hines, Will im X -"k Holkins, George Anton, John Colbreath, Wil- 
liam Caird, John Gray, John Woodman (?), AndrewWatson, Wil- 
liam Bleair, Joseph Bleair, Hugh i.i. X ■■'art Blare, William Blare, 
Samuel Anton, James Knox, Robert Hendry, John Knox, William 
Hendry, William 1 )unkan, David Duncan, John Muree, James (iill- 
mor, Samuel Gillmor, Alexander Cochran, Edward McKane, John 
Morduck, Samuel ^ X ".rk McMun, Henry Calual, Thomas Mc- 
Loughlin, Robert Huoy, John Millar, Hugh Calwell, William Boyd, 
John Stirling, Samuel Smith, John Lamond, Robert Lamond, 
Robert Knox, William Wilson, Wm. Patterson. James Alexander, 
James Nesmith, David Craig, Weall. McNeall. 'Hiomas Orr, Wm. 
Caldwall, James Moore, Jr., Sam. Gunion, Matthew Lord, Robert 
Knox, ,\lex. McGregore, James Trotter. Robert Roo, Joseph 
Watson. Robert Miller, John Smeally, James Morieson, James 
Walker, Robert Walker, William la.X ""'"k CaUvall, William Walker, 




Samuel iii» X nwrk Young. Alexander Richey, James Morieson, Jo- 
seph liis X ■■'"* Burrlan, Robert i.is X m„rk Crage, John Thompson, 
Hugh Tomson, James Still, James i.is X ■"«,* Hoog, Thomas Han- 
son, Richard Etone. James Etone, Thomas Etone.Samuell Hanson, 
James Cochran. James Hulton (?), Thomas Hasetone (?). John 
Cochran. William Cochran, Samuel ws X ■■..-.rk Huntor, John Huntor. 

The accuracy of this list cannot be fully and 
clearly established, as it is the copy of a copy. The 
manuscript is very old and illegible in many places, 
but the value of the document lies largely in the 
proof it affords of the original spelling of proper 
names in the signatures, and in this respect it is 
superior to the authority of the public records 
where the clerk is responsible for the orthography 

and is'Jnot always 
correctly informed. 

The encourage- 
ment offered by the 
governor was so fa- 
v^orable that the col- 
ony of Nuffield was 
informally organized 
on the I ith of April, 
1719, under the belief 
that the territory had 
not been appropri- 
ated. As the party 
arrived, full of hope 
and ambition, and 
began to cut timber 
and erect log cabins 
along Westrunning 
brook, it was soon 
discovered that other 
civilized white people 
were scattered through the wilderness, and claim- 
ing lands by reason of certain deeds and papers. 
Claims were challenged. The controversy aroused 
opposition and investigations that led to the find- 
ing of several Indian deeds, or claims founded on 
such deeds, in the possession of earlier settlers. 
Some of these settlers were easily induced to part 
with their lands for small sums of money, being 
persuaded that these titles were conflicting and 
doubtful. There was one deed dated March 13, 
1 701, covering so exactly the territory desired by 
the new colony, that it was deemed expedient to 
investigate no further, but proceed immediately to 



CRYSTAL AVENUE, DERRV DEPOT (1894). 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



find the party to whom the ori,<)-inal arrant had been 
issued, ox his living representative with the largest 
claim, and come to some agreement with him 
whereby the people of Nutfield might be allowed 
to remain, and occupy and acquire legal possession 
of the land. The largest owner was located, and 
the town records, commonly called the Fro|)rietors' 
Book, furnish the following particulars of the 
Wheelwright purchase : 

September 23. 17 19. The town ordered James Gregg and 
Robert \\'ear to present a petition to the court of New Hamp- 
shire to obtain a power of government and town privileges. The 
said petition was presented and the answer of it delayed until the 
next spring session. The town understanding that it was need- 
ful to make an agreement with Col. John Wheelwright of Wells 
about the sale of Nutfield, ordered October, 17 19. Rev. James 
MacGregor and Samuel CJraves to wait upon Col. Wheelwright 
for that end ; they accordingly obtained a deed from Col. Wheel- 
wright and came to an agreement with him. The copy of the 
Deed is as foUoweth : 

'I'liese presents wilnesseth that I, John Wheelwright, of Wells, in the 
rounty of Yorl<, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, do for me myself, my 
heirs, csecutors, administrators, and assigns, by virtue of a deed or grant made 
to my grandfather, a minister of the Gospel, and others named in said giant, 
liy sundry Indian Sageniores, with the consent of the whole tribe of Indians 
between the rivers of Mcnimck and Piscataqua, to them and their heirs, for- 
ever, full power for the laying out, bounding and granting these lands into 
suitable tracts for townships, unto such numbers of people as may from time to 
lime offer to settle and improve the same, which deed beareth date May the 
seventeenth, one thousaml six hundred twenty-andnine, and is well 
executed, acknowledged, and approved by the authority, on the day, 
as may at large moie fully appear; pursuant thereunto I do by these 
presents give and grant all my right, title, and interest therein contained 
unto Mr. James MacGregor, Samuel Graves, David Cargill, James 
MacKeen, James Gregg, and one hundred more mentioned in a list, to 
them and their heirs, forever, a certain tract of land bounded as fob 
loweth ; not exceeding the quantity of ten miles square, beginning at a pine 
tree marked which is the southwest corner of Chester, and running to the 
northwest corner of said Chestei", and from the northwest corner running upon 
a due west line unto the river Merrimack, and down the river Merrimack until 
it meet with the line of Dunstable, and then turning eastward upon said Dun- 
stable line until it meet with the line of Dracut, and continuing eastward upon 
Dracut line until it meet with the line of Haverhill, and extending northward 
upon Haverhill line until it meet with the line of Chester, and then turning 
westward upon the said line of Chester unto the pine tree first mentioned, 
where it began. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal 
this twentieth day of ( Jctober, one thousand .seven hundred and nineteen. 

JOHN WHKEl.WRIGHT. [u s.] 

Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of 
Daniel Dupee, 
John Hirst. 

Suffolk, ss., Boston, Oct. 20, 1719. John Wheelwright, Esq., personally 
appearing, acknowledged the above instrument to be his voluntary act and deed. 

Coram W,\I. Wf.i.s I EIID, Just. Ptace. 

In the meanwhile a new discovery was made 
of more serious import to the little colony at Nut- 
field, tliat the grant of ten mdes square so much 
desired by reason of its situation and fertilitv, was 



not within the limits of the province of Massa- 
chusetts Bav, but included in the boundaries of the 
province of New Hampshire. While attacked on 
everv side bv the indignant possessors of other and 
older claims, and hustled about, and having their 
goods damaged in ejectments from the more fierce 
claimants, the town had informallv organized and 
appointed officers and committees to attend to the 
very important matters of title and occupancy. 
The town had not been incorporated, nor even the 
right to occupv fullv or legally established. The 
officers applied to the general court of New 
Hampshire in the expectation of securing an act 
of incorporation, Sept. 23, 1719. The petition 
represents the people of Nutfield, at that time 
humbled b\- the accumulation of obstacles, and 
quite willing to accept some assistance from King 
George in furtherance of their plan for permanent 
settlement, and especially set forth the claim, that 
they were descended from, and professed the faith 
and principles of the established church, and were 
loyal subjects of the British crown. George, by 
the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, 
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., was 
graciouslv pleased to grant to his beloved subjects 
the ten miles square tract of land on certain con- 
ditions. But the name of Nutfield was sacrificed, 
and the township really and truly incorporated by 
the name of Londonderrv. 

The date of this roval document was June 21, 
1722, and attached to it was the schedule of the 
names and shares of the proprietors of the township 
of Londonderry. Nutfield existed in hypothetical 
anticipation of being legally incorporated either in 
the province of Massachusetts Bay or the province 
(jf New Hampshire, under some delusive titulary 
conveyance from Indian, adventurer, immigration 
agent, or picmeer, for three years, and during those 
three years all the business of town meetings, and 
actions of officers and committees were anticipatory 
of legal justification. 

After more than three years of struggling 
against misfortunes and much importunate be- 
seeching, through the intervention of influential 
officers of the crown, the precious document was 
brought to town, not to Nutfield, but to London- 
derry, and not in the province of Massachusetts, 
but in the province of New Hampshire. The copy 




LINCOLN. 

From (he Statue by John Rogers. — In Manchester Public Library. 




THE CHARITY PATIENT. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 





HOME OF JOHN ROGERS, NEW CANAAN, CONN. 




'WHY don't you Sl'EAK FOR VOUUSELI', JOHN ? ' 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 



TAKING THE OATH AND DRAWING RATIONS. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 



U'/LLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



83 



of the ro3'al grant and schcduk- is herewith pre- 
sented to the reader : 

George by the grace of God of Great Britain France and 
Ireland King Defender of the Faith, etc. To all peojile to whom 
these presents shall come, greeting. 

Know ye that we of our especial knowledge and mere mo- 
tion for the due encouragement of settling new plantations, by 
and with the advice and consent of our council, have given and 
granted by these presents, as far as in us lies do give and grant, 
in equal shares unto sundry of our beloved subjects, whose names 
are entered unto a schedule hereunto annexed, that inhabit, or 
shall inhabit, within the said grant within our province of New 
Hampshire, all that tract of land, within the following bounds, 
being ten miles square, or so much as amounts to ten miles 
square, and no more, bearing on the northeast angle at a beach 
tree marked, which is the southeast angle of Chester, and run- 
ning from thence due south on Kingstown line four miles and a 
half and from thence on a west line one mile and three quarters, 
and from thence south six miles and a half and from thence 
west-north-west nine miles and a half and from thence north 
eleven miles and a half and from thence north-north-east three 
miles, from thence east-south-east one mile, and from thence 
south-south-west to the southwest angle of Chester, and from 
thence on an east-south-east line bounding on Chester ten miles 
unto the l)each tree first mentioned, and that the same be a town 
corporate by the name of Londonderry, to the persons aforesaid, 
forever, provided nevertheless, and the true intent and mean- 
ing of these presents is. anything to the contrary notwithstanding, 
that nothing in this said grant shall extend to, or be understood 
to extend, to defeat, prejudice, or make null and void any claim, 
title or pretence, which our province of the Massachusetts Bay 
may have to all, or any part (jf the premises granted as aforesaid, 
or the right to claim [iroperty, or demand of any private person 
or persons, by reason and means of all or any part of the said 
granted premises falling within the line or boundaries of our said 
province of the Massachusetts Bay, to have and to hold the said 
land to the grantees, their heirs, and assigns, forever, uj)on the 
following conditions, viz : 

ist. That the proprietors of every share build a dwelling 
house within three years, and settle a family therein, and break 
up three acres of ground, and plant or sow the same within four 
years, and pay his or their proportion of the town charges, when 
and so often as occasion shall require the same. 

2nd. That upon default of any particular proprietor in com- 
plying with the conditions of this charter, or his part, such delin- 
quent proprietor shall forfeit his share to the other proprietors, 
to be disjiosed of by vote of the major part of the pro|)rietors, and 
in case of an Indian war withm the said four years, the said grantees 
shall have four years more, after the said war is ended, for the 
performance of those conditions. The said men and inhaljitants 
also rendering and paying for the same to us and our successors, 
or to such officer or officers as shall be ajjpointed to receive the 
same, the annual quit-rent or acknowledgement of one peck of 
l)otatoes, on the first day of October yearly forever, reserving 
also unto us, and our heirs and successors, all mast trees growing 
on said tract of land, and according to the acts of Parliament in 



that behalf made and provided, and for the better order, rule and 
government of the said town, we do by these presents grant, for 
us and our heirs and successors, unto the said grantees, that 
yearly and every year, upon the fifth day of March forever, ex- 
cept the Lord's Day, and then on the Monday next following, 
they shall meet and elect and choose, by the major part of the 
electors present, all town officers, according to the laws and 
usage of the other towns within our said province, for the year 
ensuing, with such powers, privileges and authorities, as other 
town officers in our province aforesaid do enjoy, as also 
that on every Wednesday in the week forever, they may hold, 
keep and enjoy a market, for the selling and buying of goods, 
wares, merchandise and all kinds of creatures, endowed with the 
usual privileges, profits and immunities, as other market towns 
usually hold, possess and enjoy, and two fairs annually forever 
the first to be held, or kept, within the said town on the eighth 
day of October next, and so de anno in annum forever, and the 
other on the eighth day of May in like manner, provided that it 
should so happen, that if at any time, either of those days fall on 
the Lord's Day, then the said fair shall be held and kept the day 
following, and that the said fair shall have, hold and possess the 
liberties, privileges and immun t;es, that other fairs in other towns 
usually possess, hold and enjoy. 

In witness whereof we have caused the seal of our said 
province to be hereunto affixed. 

Witness Samuel Shute, Esq., our Governor and 
[l. s.] Commander in Chief of our said province the twent}-- 

first of June, Anno Domini, seventeen hundred 
twenty-two, and in the eighth year of our Reign. 

By advice of the Council, 

.SAMUEL SHUTE. 
Richard Waldron, Clir. Con. 

A schedule of the names of proprietors of Londonderry : 
John Moore, Robert W illson, James Moore, John Archibald, 
James and lohn Doak, Henry Green, Abel Merrill, Randall 
Ale.xander, Robert Doak, Alexander Walker, John Clark, James 
Anderson, James Alexander, James Morrison, John Mitchell, 
Archibald Clendennen, John Barnard, James MacKeen and 
sons (2 shares). Jonathan Tyler, Alexander Nichols. James 
Nichols, William Nichols, William Humphrey, John Barr and 
sons (2 shares), David Craig and William (iillmore (2 shares), 
John Stewart, Thomas Steele, Samuel AUison, John Morrison, 
Robert Wear, Allen Anderson, Mr. MacGregor and sons 
(3 shares), James Nesmith, James Clark, William Gregg, John 
Gregg, John CJregg and sons (2 shares), William Willson and 
John Ritchey, David Cargill, Jr., William Thompson, Hugh Mont- 
gomery, Robert Morrison, .\lexander MacNeal, Roliert Boyes, 
John MacMurphy. John .\lacNeal, William Cam|)ljell, Ca])t. David 
Cargill, John Archibald, Jr., James MacNeal, Daniel McDuffee 
(it share)- Samuel Houston, Col. John Wheelwright, Edward Proc- 
tor, Benjamin Kidder, John Gray, Jose|)h Kidder, John Cioffe, Sam- 
uel Gro\er. lohn Crombie. Matthew Clark, James Lindsay, James 
Leslie, John Anderson, James Blair, John Blair, James Moore, 
John Shields (1^ share), James Rodgers {^ share), Jose])h 
Simonds, Elias Keyes, John Robey, John Senter, Robert 
MacKeen, Janet. Samuel and John MacKeen, William Coghran, 
John, Peter, and Andrew Coghran, David Boyle, James Gregg, 



84 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Samuel Grover and Robert Boyes, James Aiken, William Aiken, 
Edward Aiken, John Wallace, Benjamin Willson. Andrew Todd, 
John Bell, David Morrison, Samuel Morrison, Al^ram Holmes, 
lohn Given, William Ea\Tes, Thomas Boyle, Elizabeth Willson 
and Mary her daughter (^ share), Samuel Graves, Jr., John 
Gofte, Jr., Stephen Pierce, Andrew Spalding, Alexander Mac- 
Murphy and James Liggitt {\ share), James MacGregor for ser- 
vants {\ share), Capt. Cargill for two servants, George Clark 
{\ share), Thomas Clark {\ share), Nehemiah Giffin {\ share), 
James MacGloughlan {\ share). Parsonage lot, John Barnard, Jr., 
John MacConoghy, John MacClury {\ share), John A\'oodburn, 
Benning Wentworth, Richard Waldron, Jr., Lt. Gov. Wentworth, 
Robert Armstrong, Robert Auchmuty, making a total of 12 2|- 
shares. 

The full number of proprietors in our charter is one hun- 
dred and twenty-four and a half, parsonage and all. The memo- 
randum over and above 
what is already given in 
this schedule is added to 
Mr. MacGregor, 250 acres: 
Mr. MacKeen. 250 acres ; 
Mr. David Cargill, 100 
acres ; Mr. James Gregg, 
150 acres : John Goffe, 
100 acres : total, 850 acres. 
And to the two last 
mentioned, viz, Gregg and 
Goffe, a mill stream within 
the said town for their 
good service in iiromoting 
the settlement of the town, 
Richard \\'aldron, 

CUr. Con. 

New Hampshire, June 
22, 1722. Admitted pro- 
])rietors and commoners 
in the town of London- 
derry with the persons 
mentioned in this schedule: 
His Excellency Governor 

Shute a home lot and 500 acres ; His Honor Lieut. Gov. Went- 
worth a home lot and 500 acres : Samuel Fenhallow, Mark Hun- 
kins, George Jaffrey, Shadrack Waldron. Richard Wibbard, 
Thomas Westbrook, Thomas Parker, Archie MacPheadin, one 
share each. 

Richard Waldron, Cii-rk of CoiincH. 

It mioht have been tlioti^lit the rights and 
interests of everv person in the new cohmv of 
Londonderry had been thorousjhlv secured at the 
end of three such vexatious years in this Hberal 
charter and kinsjly favor, but unfortunately there 
were clauses in the royal ^rant that left the title to 
the land no clearer than before, as it was not per- 
mitted to make void the claim of the province of 




BROADWAY, DERRY DEPOT. LOOKING EAST (1S94). 



Massachusetts, to any or all of this tract, nor could 
it be enforced against the rights of any private 
person, and interminable disputes occurred all 
alono; the boundaries, especially on the east and 
south. In some instances the claimants, despairing 
of receiving justice at the hands of public officers, 
attem})ted to settle the question of occupancy by 
physical force. There was so little currency in the 
countrv at that period, and very few of the settlers 
had anv means of defraying the expenses of a law- 
suit in defence of their homesteads, the suffering 
was so great, the redress so remote, and delays so 
disastrous in the cases of ejectment, that the town 

was obliged to have 
a warrant article al- 
most annually to see 
what next should be 
done for protection, 
and determine how 
the cost of suits 
should be raised. The 
deeds that have been 
mentioned hitherto 
and the charter have 
been given in this ar- 
ticle, although thev 
may be found in 
other histories of 
towns eml)raced in 
part in the original 
boundary of London- 
derry. There is no 
doubt about the va- 
lidity of another deed 
of \yhich little has been written in former histories, 
and a careful examination of the records will con- 
vince the reader that much moreprofitahlesales were 
made under the provisions of the Mason grant, 
than under that of Wheelwrigrht, and it was found 
practical Iv impossible to expel those who held land 
under the Mason grant. Ejectments came by the 
grant, but the people who could be disturbed by 
reason of the Mason grant finally took measures 
to forever clear their titles of any claim under it. 
The deed will give a fair understanding of the situa- 
tion in this and neighboring towns twenty-five 
years after the arrixal of the Nuffield colony. It 
is said these twelve men of Portsmouth named in 







WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



85 



flu- deed below quit claimed to seventeen old towns 
l)et\veen the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers 
already settled without exactin^Sj more than a nom- 
inal consideration : 

To all People to whom these presents shall come. John 
Tufton Mason of Portsmouth within the Province of New Hamp- 
shire in New England, Esquire, sendeth greeting : 

Know ye that Captain John Mason heretofore of London, 
Esquire, now deceased, by virtue of several grants to him made 
by and under the Crown and several confirmations and ratifica- 
tions thereof by the Crown, claimed and held a certain tract of 
land situated in New England in America, lying upon the sea 
coast between the river Merrimack and the river of Piscataqua, 
and running \\\\ Piscataqua river to the farthest head thereof, and 
from thence northwestward until sixty miles are completed, and 
so running up the river 
Merrimack sixty miles, and 
thence across the main 
land to the end of the sixty 
miles aforesaid, commonly 
called and known by the 
name of New Hampshire, 
which grants and the right, 
title and inheritance of, in 
and unto the same, which 
did belong to the said 
Ca|it. [ohn Mason, is now 
become the estate in fee 
of the said John Tufton 
Mason, as he is heir at la.v 
of John Tufton Mason, 
deceased, who was the son 
and heir of Robert Tufton 
Mason, deceased, who wa^ 
grandson and heir at law 
of the said Capt. John 
Mason, deceased. And 
for and in consideration of 
the sum of fifteen hundred 

jjounds of good and lawful money of the province of New Hamp- 
shire, aforesaid, to me the said John Tufton Mason in hand well 
and truly paid by Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, John 
Moffatt, Mark HunTiing Wentworth, Samuel Moore, Jotham 
Odiorne Junr., and Joshua Pierce, Escjuire, Nathaniel Meserve, 
(leorge Jaffrey, Junr., and John Wentworth, Junr., gentlemen, all 
of Portsmouth aforesaid, and Thomas Wallingford of Sommers- 
worth in said Province, Esquire, and Thomas Packer of (ireen- 
land in the Province aforesaid, the receipt whereof, to full content 
and satisfaction, I hereby acknowledge, and thereof and of every 
part and parcel thereof. I do exonerate, acquit and discharge them, 
the said Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird. John Moffatt, Mark 
Hunking Wentworth, Samuel Moore, Jotham Odiorne, Junr., 
Joshua Pierce, Nathaniel Meserve, George Jaffrey. Junr.. John 
Wentworth, Junr., Thomas Wallingford, and Thomas Packer, and 
all and every of their several and respective heirs, executors and 
administrators, forever. Have given, granted, bargained and sold, 




and by these presents do give, giant, bargain, sell, alien, enfeoff, 
make over, convey, and forever confirm, unto them, the said Theo- 
dore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, John Moffatt, Mark Hunking 
Wentworth. Samuel Moore, Jotham Odiorne, Junr., Joshua Pierce, 
Nathaniel Meserve, (ieorge Jaffrey, Junr., John Wentworth, Junr., 
Thomas Wallingford. and Thomas Packer, their heirs and assigns 
forever, in the manner and ]3roportion hereafter in these presents 
mentioned, all that my right, title, interest, estate, inheritance, 
jiroperty, possession, claim or demand whatsoever, which I now 
have, of in and unto all that tract or parcel of land situated in 
the Province aforesaid, containing Two Hundred Thousand Acres, 
more or less, bounded as follows, viz : 

Beginning at the mouth of the Piscataqua river, thence up 
the same to the farthest head of Newickewannick river, so called, 
and to the farthest head thereof, and thence northwestward until 
sixty miles be completed from the mouth of said Piscataqua 

river, the place where it 
began, and then from Pis- 
cataqua river aforesaid 
along the sea coast towards 
Merrimack river until it 
comes to the boundary 
hue between the saul 
Province of New Hamp- 
shire and the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, thence 
running as the said bound- 
ary line runs until sixty 
miles be completed from 
the sea, then running from 
the westerly end of the 
sixty miles last mentioned 
across the land to the 
northerly end of the sixty 
miles first mentioned, to- 
gether with the southeast 
half of the Isle of Shoals, 
with all my right, title, in- 
terest, estate, inheritance, 
property, possession, claim 
and demand whatsoever, I have of in and unto all and every of 
the towns, parishes, precincts, distiicts, villages, buildings, woods, 
rivers, ponds, waters and water courses, stones, mines, quarries 
and minerals, and all timber trees within the said boundaries 
with all and every of the privileges and api)urtenances, profits, 
commodities and accommodations to the same and any and 
every part and parcel thereof, in any manner belonging, with 
the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders, rents, 
issues, and profits, to the same and to any and every part and 
parcel thereof in any manner belonging, and appurtaining. To 
have and to hold the said granted and bargained premises, with 
the privileges and appurtenances as aforesaid, in manner and 
form following, viz : to the said Theodore Atkinson three fif- 
teenths parts thereof, to him, his heirs and assigns. And to the 
said Mark Hunking Wentworth his heirs and assigns two fif- 
teenths parts thereof, and to the said Richard Wibird, John 
Moffatt, Sairiuel Moore, Jotham Odiorne, Junr., Joshua Pierce, 



liROADW^\Y, DKRRY DEPOT. LOOKING WEST (l<S()4y 



86 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFlELh. 



Nathaniel Meserve, George Jaftrey, Junr., John Weiitworth, Junr., 
Thomas Wallingford and Thomas Packer, to each of them and 
their several and respective heirs and assigns forever, one fifteenth 
part thereof, forever, so that no person or persons claiming, or that 
shall or may hereafter claim the said granted and bargained prem- 
ises, or any part thereof, from by or under me the said John Tuf- 
ton Mason, shall have any right, interest, inheritance, possession 
or property whatsoever of in and unto the same, or to any part or 
parcel thereof, forever, hereafter. Moreover .\nna Elizabeth Ma- 
son, the wife of me the said John Tufton Mason, doth by these 
presents give, grant and surrender all her right of dower and 
thirds in the premises, unto them the said Theodore Atkinson, 
Richard Wibird, John Moffatt, Mark Hunking Wentworth, 
Samuel Moore, Jotham Odiorne, Junr., Joshua Pierce. Nathaniel 
Meserve, George Jaffrey, Jr., John Wentworth, Jr., Thomas 
Wallingford and Thomas Packer, their heirs and assigns, forever. 
In witness whereof the 
said John Tufton Mason 
and Anna Elizabeth my 
said wife, hereunto set our 
hands and seals, the thir 
tieth day of July, in the 
twentieth year of the reign 
of King George the Sec- 
ond. Anno Domini 1746. 
John Tufton Mason, [s.] 
Anna Elizabeth 

Tufton Mason, [s.] 

Signed sealed and de- 
livered after the words 
(all her right of dower and 
thirds in the premises) 
were inserted in the last 
line of second page In 
presence of us 

Joshua Gilnian. 

Noah Emkrv. 



Province of New Hamp- 
shire, July 30. 1746. Re- 
ceived of Theodore Atkin- 
son. Esquire, and others, in 
teen hundred pounds the full 
mentioned, ^1500. 




BIRCH STRElil', DERRV DEPOT (1894) 



the foregoing ileed mentioned, fif- 
sum of the consideration this deed 
John Tufton Mason. 



Province of New Hampshire, Portsmouth, July 31, 1746. 
Then John Tufton Mason, Es(|uire, above named and .^nna 
Elizabeth his wife, personally appearing before me the subscriber, 
one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for said Province, 
acknowledged the foregoing deed to be their free act and deed. 

Pierce Long. 

Rec'd. .^ug. 27, 1746. and recorded 28th .\ug., 1746. 

I). Pierce, Rciotihr. 

Province of New Hampshire. A true copy from Lib. 31 
Fol. 220. Examined the 22nd June, 1756. 

1). Pierce, Recorder. 



The conflictintr of titles sprang from many 
causes, chief among them a general ignorance of the 
geogra]ih\' of the country, and the granting of terri- 
tory already covered under the supposition that the 
terms of the former conveyance had been violated to 
the extent of annulling the grant, or the supposition 
that an Indian deed was better than a royal grant. 
There was, even after the purchase under the 
Mason grant just quoted, abundant cause for 
an.xietv among the earlv settlers, and it delayed the 
development of the town seriouslv, and led to in- 
numerable cases of abandonment of homesteads, and 
removal to other parts of the country. The fol- 
lowing paper may be 
of some assistance in 
understanding more 
of the situation. It is 
found in a manu- 
script of the date 
Aug. 9, I 766. 

A brief account of the 
title of Capt. John Mason- 
Upon Mr. Allen petition- 
ing Queen .^nne to be ])ut 
in possession of the waste 
lands, the assembly passed 
an act for confirmation of 
their township grants with- 
out respect to the Mason 
Claim. Upon Mr. Allen's 
application the Queen in 
council repealed that act, 
the Crown assumed the 
vacant lands until Mr. 
.-\llen can make it appear 
that Mr. Mason was ever 
in possession of said lands, 
as did appear by the cases of Allen against Waldron and 
Vaughan John Hobby, grandson to Sir Charles Hobby and John 
Adams of Boston, claiming one half of the Mason grant bought 
of Col. .\llen. Mason's heirs saying the grant was entailed and 
could not be sold. In 1635 Captain John Mason dies, having 
willed New Hampshire to John Tufton on condition of his taking 
the name of Mason. John dying a minor, it fell to Robert 
Tufton Mason an infant. When Robert came of age he peti- 
tioned King Charles II to be relieved as to the property of his 
land, Geoffrey Palmer Attorney General made report that these 
lands were the undoubted right of Robert Mason. William 
Housleton and Peter Buckly sent over to answer Mason's com- 
])laint as attorneys for the Massachusetts Bay province disclaimed 
said lands before the court of King's Bench. Mr. Mason brought 
suits of ejectment against William Vaughan and recovered judg- 
ment. Vaughan appealed Home. His appeal was dismissed 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



87 



and the former judgment ronfirmed, the appellant pays cost. 
Mr, Mason, despairing of any agreement with the peo|)le, returns 
to England and dies, leaving two sons John and Robert Tufton 
Mason, who conveyed the whole of their rights to Samuel Allen 
of London for 2750^ sterling. (See account of Mason's deed 
to Allen, page 89, Derry Edition, Book of Nutfield.) 



WILFRED ERNEST BURPEE was born 
in New London, N. H., Feb. 7, i860. His 
father is Edwin P. Burpee, whose mother was the 
sister of Gov. Anthony Colby. For seven years, 
in company with A. FL Whipple, he conducted 



GEORGE H. BROWN was born in Hill 
June I, 1847, and received his education in 
the public schools of that town, at the New 
Hampton Institution, and at the Detroit Optical 
College. In Tiiton, where he located, Mr. Brown 
was among the leading citizens. It was mainlv 
through his efforts that the Tiiton & Northfield 
Fire Insurance Company was organized, and he 
was its president for a number of years. He has 
also been a director in the Tiiton National bank 
for several vears. In 1878 and 1879 he was a 
member of the state legislature, and he has held 





WILFRED E. BURPEE. 



the well known summer hotel, " The Heidelberg." 
Mr. Buri)ee was educated in the public schools of 
New London and at Colby Academy. In 1891 he 
graduated from the Detroit Optical College, 
receiving the degree of optical specialist. Since 
1886 he has been actively engaged in optical work 
and has won a wide and enviable reputation for 
his skill. In November, 1894, Mr. Burpee was 
married to Miss Lucy Shepard of New London. 



GEORGE H. I'.ROWN. 



BROWN & BURPEE.— The f^rm of Brown & 
Burpee has been in business in Manchester 
since April, 1894, being among the first to open 
offices in the Kennard. Their testing parlor con- 
tains every instrument and convenience as an aid 
to their profession, and their mechanical and pre- 
many town offices. In his profession Mr. Brown scription department is the only one in the city, 
ranks as one of tlie most skilful opticians in New Their establishment, combining as it does scientific 
England, and from the first he has commanded and mechanical skill of a high order and being 
the highest patronage. Mr. Brown's residence complete in all its departments, has few equals in 
is at 18 Brook street. the country. 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MANCHESTER. 



THE First Congregational church of Manchester 
was organized Aug. 15, 1839, when a union 
was effected of two small churches, which for more 
than ten years had been struggling for existence, 
without a settled pastor or a church building. 
One of these, the Congregational church of Amos- 
keag village, worshipped in the house of Daniel 
Farmer, whose family is still prominently identified 
with the church, and its date of organization, 
December, 1828, is often given as that of the 
present First church. The other uniting branch 
was the Presbyterian church of the Centre, then 
the principal village within the present city limits. 
Each contributed fourteen to the roll of charter 
membership. The new church erected its first 
building on the site now occupied by the Opera 
House block, in the heart of the manufacturing 
village then springing up on the east bank of the 
Merrimack, and dedicated it Nov. 21, 1839. The 
sermon on this occasion was preached by Rev. 
C. W. Wallace, who had before supplied in the 
Amoskeaof church, and to him a call was extended 
the next day, which he accepted, l)eing ordained 
Jan. 8, 1840. The First Congregational Society 
was formed about the same time. It has always 
had the sfood fortune to he in the hands of 
thorough business men who have wisely adminis- 
tered its financial affairs. 

In February, 1873, after a pastorate of thirty- 
three years, during which he had impressed his own 
strong and purposeful character upon the church 
and community. Dr. Wallace resigned a large and 
powerful church into the care of his successor. 
Rev. Edward G. Selden, a recent graduate of 
Andover Seminarv. The title of Pastor Emeritus 
was conferred upon Dr. Wallace. It was during 
this second pastorate that the new church edifice 
was erected at the corner of Hanover and Union 
streets. The last meeting in the old church was 
March 28, 1880, Dr. Wallace preaching an eloquent 
sermon to a crowded assembl3^ The cost of the 
new structure, dedicated May 12, 1880, was about 
$60,000. Horace P. Watts was president of the 
society at the time, and the church holds his 
memory in special gratitude for his generous ser- 
vice and skilful management of this enterprise. 



After a successful pastorate of nearly twelve years 
Mr. Selden accepted a call in May, 1885, to the 
South church, Springfield, Mass. He is now 
pastor of a large church in Albany, N. Y. Hi^ 
successor in the Manchester church was Rev 
Willard G. Sperry, now the honored president 01 
Olivet College, Mich. He came from the Soutl 
Congregational church, Peabody, Mass., anc 
remained eight years, resigning at the call of th( 
college above mentioned. During his stay it wa; 
decided that the increasing demands of the worl 
called for a pastor's assistant, and Miss Mary F 
Dana was appointed to that office March, 1887 
and continues to the present time. This was thi 
first church in the state to introduce such ai 
officer. 

In October, 1893, Dr. Edward A. Lawrenc( 
was called to the vacant pastorate, and his accept 
ance was privately assured, but before the arriva 
of the official notice, information was received o 
his sudden death. Attention was next directed t( 
Dr. T. E. Clapp of Portland, Ore., who preachei 
his first sermon in the church March 4, 189/] 
He accepted the call to the pastorate, and hi 
ministrations have proved very successful. 

The following bequests have fallen to th 
church and society by the will of deceased merr 
bers: Mrs. Mary E. Elliot, the greater part 
whose estate was devoted to the establishinsj 
the Elliot Hospital, gave $2,000 for payment c 
the last indebtedness incurred in church buildinc 
and her house and land were also given for use as 
parsonage; $1,000 was left to the church by Mr: 
Hannah B. Keniston ; $1,000 by Mrs. Williar 
Hartshorn to the society, and $500 to the societ 
by Dr. Henry M. French. 

Eleven young men of the church have entere 
the Christian ministry : one, James H. Pettee, i 
one of the best known missionaries of Japai 
and two, Robert P. Herrick and Isaac Huse, ar 
prominently connected with the Home Missio 
field in the West. 

The present membership of the church is 70 
It has a Sunday school of 589 meml)ers, beside 
a home department of about 100, and a Christia 
Endeavor society of 170 members, with a junic 



88 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD 



89 



society of 75. The church stands today conspic- 
uous for its long pastorates, its loyalty, its tenacious 
holding to foundation principles, its soundness on 
the temperance question, and its readiness to meet 
the demands of a growing city, still bearing the 
stamp of the stalwart Christian character of him 
who shaped so many years of its history. 

Dr. Wallace's letter of resignation was so 
characteristic of him, and it affords such an ade- 
(|uate idea of the relations then subsisting between 
pastor and people, that it is here reproduced : 

Beloved Brethren and Friends: — A period has arrived 
which admonishes me that it is my duty to lay before you my 
convictions in regard to that relation which unites us as pastor 
and people. .\fter having long deliberated on this question — 
looking at it from every standpoint I could command — and 
after having sought direction from the tlreat Head of the church. 





FIRST CONGREGATION.VL CHVRCH. — ERECTED IN I 839. 

I have reluctantly reached the conclusion that it is my duty lo 
resign my iiastoral office ; and this I now do, the resignation lo 
take effect with the close of May ne.xt. The terms of my ordi- 
nation require that I should notify you three months previous to 
such a resignation. Supposing that more time might be desir- 
able for both parties, I have increased this period. 

It is in accordance with both my judgment and feelings, 
as well as in harmony with my obligations to you, that I 
should state the reason for the step I now take. It is not on 
account of any marked e.xjiressions of dissatisfaction which have 
reached my ears. It is not because my work is so severe that 
I am seeking rest. Nor is it because my health is such as to 
demand the change. Nor is it for any reason that can benefit 
myself. It must be obvious that all my ])ersonal interests are 
here. My ministerial standing, social position, and pecuniary 
welfeire, all are interwoven with my present relations. When 
this resignation takes effect I can anti<upate no other pastorale. 



The step, therefore, which I now take, is not for my sake, but 
for your welfare. 

My pastorate has extended over a long period. The time 
designated for my retirement will complete thirty-four years. 
I have but one senior in the state. And in the five hundred 
churches in Massachusetts, not more than five or six pastors 
have remained for so long a period. I am no longer a young 
man, nor am I in middle life — and neither health, nor strength, 
nor experience, nor interest in the living world, can conceal the 
fact that I am fast approaching the scriptural limit of human life. 
My generation are mostly gone. The living are behind me. 
The vigor and working force of the church, as well as its 
pecuniary sup]jort, are drawn from those far younger than 
myself, while those for whose salvation we labor, are mostly 
separated from me by the distance of many years. 

These things being so, instead of struggling against the 
inevitable, it is far better to yield the position I occujjy, that it 
may be filled by one whose age, thoughts, and sympathies are 
supposed to be more in harmony with the day in which we live. 
The old routine needs to be broken up ; an increased personal 
responsibility needs to be awakened, for a work is demanded 
here which cannot be performed without it. In a word, this 
church and society need the freshness, the vigor, the young life, 
the magnetism of another pastor. No man whose sun is so near 
the going down as my own, and whose voice is so familiar, can 
lead this church to that higher ground of individual account- 
ability. I feel, therefore, that the Master, whose call I humbly 
trust I obeyed, when long ago I assumed this office, would now 
have me retire. This demand I hasten to obey, that I may not 
occupy a position I cannot fill. 

That this step cost me a sacrifice, I will not deny. It is a 
sacrifice to leave the scene of my life-work — turning away from 
that altar upon which, though with great imperfection, I have 
laid the vigor of my youth and the strength of my manhood. 
It is a sacrifice to leave the only people I could call mine, whom 
I had the wish or the right to love as mine. It is a sacrifice to 
drift out upon the wide world and feel I have no church, no con- 
gregation, no pastorate, no spiritual home. So great indeed is 
this sacrifice, I cease to wonder that old men often cling to the 
office long after it has been thought by others that the day of 
their usefulness is closed. If I have not already committed this 
mistake, I wish to avoid it. Hence, great as the sacrifice is, 
I make it readily if not cheerfully. I feel my Heavenly Father 
demands it at my hands. KwA when I call to mind the blessings 
which have strewn the pathway of all my past, I confide the 
future to him. I will only repeat, it has been my desire not to 
consult my own interest in this step ; neither to allow my feelings 
to be my guide, but to answer the one question, what will be most 
for the temporal and spiritual advancement of this cluirch and 
society, most for the honor of Christ and tlie glory of his name. 
And my request is that you may receive this communication, 
and act upon it with a desire even more perfect than my own. 

Dr. Wallace's farewell discourse produced a 
profound impression upon the church and the 
community, He took for his te.xt the words: 
" Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of 



90 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; and 
the God of love and peace shall be with you." 
In the course of his sermon he said : 

The loim looked for. the long dreaded hour has come. 
With mingled emotions of sadness and gratitude I address 
myself to its duties. The shadows are here ; but there is sun- 
light also. " I will sing of mercy and of judgment," if this poor 
he.art will play on the minor key. I hear a voice, deep, strong, 
exultant. " which giveth songs in the night." As I always wish 
to make most prominent my blessings, I will first speak of our 
occasions of gratitude. And first among these, I will mention 
the fact that I have been permitted so many years to preach the 
"gospel of the blessed God." It is thirty five years since I was 
licensed as a preacher of the gospel, and from that day to this 
I have not been without employment. I know my work has 
been performed with little of beauty, perhaps with less of power. 
Still, I do rejoice that I have been permitted to devote my life 
to this most blessed work. .\nother service may be more 
honorable, it may be more useful : still, for myself, there is no 
employment so much in harmony with my feelings as that of 
pointing the lost to the rock of refuge. I fell in love with the 
ministry before I entered it. I have not been disappointed. 
Could I go back to life's young morning, in spite of all its cares 
and labors, I would choose it again. 

Whether it is better to sjiend the wliole of life, as I have 
done, among the same people, I cannot say. I think no one 
rule will apply in every case. Still, there are many pleasant 
things connected with a life-long pastorate. During such a 
period, most families, in any congregation, will pass through 
scenes of joy and sorrow. Then, confidence is a plant of slow 
growth. And the ties of affection, where there is true worth to 
feed upon, become stronger and stronger as the years pass 
away. For these reasons a single pastorate has blessings over 
one which is divided. Still no one rule will apply. 

I am grateful — I think we ought all to be grateful — for 
the peace and harmony which, as a people, we have enjoyed. 
This spirit of harmony is of more importance to a religious com- 
munity than most imagine. As a church and people I think we 
have enjoyed this blessing to a remarkable degree ; and so far as 
regards the relation of pastor and ])eople, the harmony, so far as 
I know, has been very nearly complete During all these years, 
now fading in the distance of the past, I can recall no word 
which 1 think was spoken with the design of injuring my feel- 
ings, and so far as I have known my own heart, no unkind 
feehng has lurked therein toward any one of my people. I am 
grateful that I can say this, at this time and in this place. And 
all this notwithstanding that the last thirty-five years have 
been a very stormy period in the history of our country. The 
temperance question has been largely discussed. And the 
institution of slavery, its grasp for greater power, leading to the 
Mexican war, and then the late Rebellion, have agitated the 
land to an astonishing degree — dividing churches and unsettling 
ministers. Yet we have not been distracted, as many religious 
communities have been. 

1 think we should be grateful for the measure of success 
which has attended our united labors. In August, 1839, this 



church was reorganized by the union of the church at .\moskeag 
with that at Mancliester Centre. Thus formed, it embraced a 
membership of 27 : 8 men and 19 women. During my pastorate 
924 have been added: 363 by profession of faith in Christ, 561 
by letter. Of these, 311 have been dismissed, 127 have died, 
and six have been excluded : leaving the present membership 
507. A large number: but we must bear in mind that many of 
them, certainly one-fifth, are absent, and a few are lost sight of. 
Still, we are large in numbers : larger than in pecuniary or moral 
strength. I have baptized 185 adults and T48 infants. During 
my ministry I have written out in full about 1,340 sermons, 
besides many addresses which have cost me much labor : and 
for the last twenty years of my ministry I have preached extem- 
poraneously nearly one half the time. Many of these extem- 
])oraneous sermons have cost me more study than the same 
number written out in full. Still there has been a great saving 
of both mental and physical exhaustion : and I think on the 
whole the usefulness has not been diminished. I have attended 
about 1,150 funerals : of these, from one third to one half were 
outside of my oun congregation. The ceremony of marriage 
I have performed 1,164 times. This is a large number. Few 
ministers marry more persons than they bury : I have more than 
double the number. With many of these parties I have had no 
acquaintance ; I have met them on this occasion only. They 
are scattered far and wide : not a few have already closed life's 
journey, and entered on that state, where they " neither marry 
nor are given in marriage." With a large number, however, of 
those whom I have united in these most intimate and tender 
bonds, I have had an ac(iuaintance. I have known many of 
them as children : I have seen them lay the foundations of the 
family. 

The time having arrived for me to resign my pastoral office. 
I rejoice that I can leave you a strong and united ])eople. You 
are strong enough to support the institutions of religion without 
a draft which can be regarded as onerous. Far more than this, 
as compared with other churches, you are strong intellectually 
and spiritually: you are capable of keeping all the moral 
machinery connected with the work of the church in vigorous 
and successful operation. Then, you are united, both in faith 
and spirit : and among my most earnest prayers is this, that you 
may keep thus united. O make any sacrifice of personal feeling 
or preference, the sacrifice of any thing but truth and duty, 
rather than disturb this long-continued and blessed harmony. 
But I feel that a test is now coming, is near at hand, which will 
determine whether this union is founded in that principle whic h 
permeates our common faith. 

So much I can say — 1 could s.T.y much more, as the occa- 
sion of gratitude to God. Did not delicacy forbid, I would 
speak of one whose quiet and gentle influence has long been a 
silent benediction u])on my ow-n heart, lifting me up to a higher 
])lane and ])ressing me with a more earnest step in the way of 
truth and duty, and, as I believe, a benediction upon our rela- 
tions. But the silence of the new made grave must not be 
disturbed. 

Notwithstanding, however, " this cup which runneth over,'' 
and which has run over, lo ! these m.any years, there is a sadness 
which steals upon the present hour. The evening is unlike the 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



9^ 



morning: the sun is the same, he is just as bright, but, ah! the 
shadows silently gather. It was morning when I came among 
you. The sun of my life rose to the zenith — he tipped toward 
the west, gliding down the sky, till now he lingers just above the 
hills — ready to sink. It is light yet: the clouds are golden; 
it is peaceful and hopeful around : hut the night cometh, not 
unmingled with joy: still, the voice drops into the softened tone 
when we sjieak of the past, stretching far away, or talk of plans 
which take hold only of a few days to come. I know that there 
is a light which shines across the gulf of death. It comes down 
from the heights of Zion and mingles with these evening 
shadows, and thus dispels their gloom. Still, so far as this life and 
this world are concerned, there is sadness in this closing hour. 
1 am sad that my ideal of christian and ministerial character 
luis been no more fully realized. I once thought that as I grew 
older I should grow better — ascend higher the mount of God, 
and perform my work both as a Christian and a minister with 
more of singleness of purpose and earnest desire to glorify God. 
r.ut. alas! "sin is mixed with all I do" and as I entered the 
kingdom with this prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner," on 
my lips — as it lingers there still — so I fear it will, till this 
mortal shall put on immortality. 

It is sad to break these old and tender ties. A third of a 
centurv is a long period : so many years can scarcely pass away 
without bringing to most families many scenes of joy and of 
sorrow. In these lights and shadows of life we have mingled. 
.•\nd all this time the ties which have bound us together as 
pastor and people have grown stronger and stronger. Certainly 
so on my part. To sunder these friendships must cause pain ; 
moreover it is one of the infirmities of age that new friendships 
:ue not readily formed. When I say farewell to you, beloved, 
1 can have no other people to call my own : 1 shall have personal 
friends l)ut not a people ; good, kind friends, luit not a church 
of which I can say and feel, " it is mine." Another will come 
and claim your confidence and affection : the demand ought, and 
must, be obeyed; while I am too old to form other ties. Then, 
it is sad to leave these children and youth. By a fixed law of 
human nature. I know they can feel but little interest in me, 
still. 1 must feel a deep and abiding interest in their welfare, 
both for this life and for that which is to come. 

It is sad to leave this church in no higher degree of spirit- 
uality. .Some hearts never grow cold. Piety biu-ns with a 
steady flame. They are like springs whose waters pour from 
fountains so deep that the drought does not reach them. There 
are some such here. They are really the practical workmg force 
of the church, the Aarons and the Hurs, who hold up the hands 
of the minister. "They are never weary in well doing," God 
bless you, my brethren and sisters ! There are other Christians 
whose piety is fitful. Now they are full of zeal; and now they 
linger in the race. They wake up in a revival, work and pray 
and sing, for a few days, for a week, then they slee]) for months 
or years. They are of small account in a church — sickly plants 
clinging to the true vine. Others have only a name to live. 
They enter the church, but do nothing. If they are the soldiers 
of the Lord, they are on the invalid list ; in the hosiiital more 
than on picket. In the day of battle they are far oft" ; of victory 
they know nothing. I am sa<l thai there is so much of this sus- 



pension of life among ourselves. Perhaps it is largely my own 
fault : at any rate, my prayer is that God may send you a iiastor 
whom He will own, as the means of your reviving. 

Sad, however, as I am in turning away from my field of 
labor and laying oft" my life work, I do it freely. I do it at my 
own choice. I do it that young life may be poured into it. No 
man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. It is the result 
of my maturest and most deliberate judgment. It is because 
I think the master calls me to it, that I now lay this, the greatest 
sacrifice of my life, upon his altar. 

I e.xhort you to feel an interest in this church and society. 
I have long felt that here is our weakness. The idea has pre- 
vailed that there was no special need of thought, or care, or 
labor, to build ourselves up. People will come to our place of 
worship, our sabbath school will prosper, the prayer meeting will 
be attended, and all our moral and religious machinery will 
keep in motion without attention : hence if work was done, it 
was somewhere outside, not within and for ourselves. Now 
I believe there is " that scattereth and yet increaseth ; and 
there is that withholdeth." At the same time, it is not wise to 
extend the wings of the army so as to weaken the centre, and 
" he who provideth not for his own, denieth the faith," said an 
apostle. I think, brethren, you will see the need of greater con- 
centration of eft"ort ; not only that you belong to the grand army 
of the Lord, but also that you belong to this army corps, this 
regiment, this com]mny ; and here, first of all, is your duty. 
I would have you keep your hearts and hands o])en to all our 
established causes of benevolence. I would have you labor in 
mission work in our own city and surroundings. But I would 
ever have you feel that your first and highest Christian obliga- 
tion is toward the church of which you are a member ; and that 
its meetings and work must not be left to the care of the pastor 
and deacons alone, or left without any care. Most emphatically 
do I admonish you, that no political or social organization must 
be allowed to steal away your aft"ections from the church, or to 
take the precedence of your work. 



REV. T. EATON CLAPP, D. D., pastor of 
the First Church in Manchester, was horn 
near Philadelphia about fifty-one years ago. His 
collegiate education was obtained at Buckncll 
University and his theological training at Crozer 
Seminary. Enlisting in the Fifteenth Pennsyl- 
vania cavalry on the breaking out of the war, he 
served a year anti a half, participating in the battles 
of Antietam and Stone River, and sharing in 
Sherman's march to the sea. After the war the 
professorship of rhetoric at Bucknell University 
was ofTered to him, but he declined it and entered 
the ministry. His pastorates have been at 
Williamsport, Pcnn., Syracuse, N. Y., and Port- 
land, Ore. It was his success at the last named 



92 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



place which made him known throughout the he married Nanette Tolhnan of Basle, Switzerland, 
Congregational denomination both East and West, and in 1847 came to America and settled in Syra- 
and led to his call to the Manchester church in cuse, N. V., where he remained one year and then 
1894. This call was given before his congregation came to Manchester. The city at that time was 

only two years old, with a small and scattered 
population, but Dr. Custer possessed the qualities 
which overcame all difficulties, and he graduallv 
built up a large and lucrative practice. He was a 
man of the strictest integrity, and his kindness of 
heart made him countless friends among the poor 
and needy. Dr. Custer was surgeon of the Amos- 
keag Veterans, a member of Trinity Commandery, 
K. T., Hillsborough Lodge, I. O. O. F., Mount 
Horeb Royal Arch Chapter, and the American 
Legion of Honor. He was a prominent member 
of the Unitarian society, and in politics was a 
Republican. He maintained his l)right and cheer- 
ful disposition until his death, which occurred 
May 18, 1896, after an illness of nearlv nine 




REV. T. E. CI.APP, D. D. 

liad heard or seen him. During his pastorate 
there have been i 50 additions to the church, which 
has apparently entered upon a new era of pros- 
perity. Dr. Clapp is a most pleasing speaker, and 
enjoys a wide popularity outside the limits of his 
denomination. He has been prominent in the 
counsels and work of the great Congregational 
societies for promoting the diffusion of the gospel 
at home and al)road. 




DR. EMIL CUSTER. 



DR. EMIL CUSTER, who practiced medicine 
in Manchester for nearly half a century, was 
born in Frankfort, Germany, June t2, 1820, his 
father being of Swiss descent and his mother 

a German. He received a primary education in months. Two daughters, Miss Anna Custer and 
Switzerland and spent six or seven years at the Mrs. Sebastian Christophe, both of Manchester, 
universities of Munich, Freiberg, Zurich, and survive him. A son, E. L. Custer, a prominent 
Wurzburg. After the completion of his studies artist of Boston, died several years ago. 



THE AIKENS RANGE. 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY. 



THE position of this section uf land, mostly 
dev^oted to homesteads, is on the westerly 
side of Ik-aver brook, and the lots were laid out in 
parallelograms whose angles were somewhat 
ohlique, to enable the surveyors to make common 
headlines and place the farms in one range. The 
westerly heatllme of the Aikens Range is the east- 
erly headline of the Eagers Range. The easterly 
headline of the Aikens Range is a side line to the 
connected homesteads of the Coghrans (a notable 
family whose name is variously written as Cough- 
ran, Coghran, Cochran, and Cochrane, and prob- 
ably to be identified with Coffran). The longer 
lines of the Aikens Range of homesteads are 
nearly parallel to the general course of Beaver 
brook. The homestead lying nearest to the brook 
leaves a wide space between that was not adapted 
to immediate settlement. At this part of Beaver 
brook the meadow margin is very broad, and at 
the time the homesteads were laid out all the meadow 
was staked and bounded for the exclusive use of 
the settlers as thev had agreed among themselves. 
The legal i)ossession of these meadows then be- 
came h.xed by a formal act of the committee for 
lot laving and the recording of the former transac- 
tion. James Aiken had the homestead nearest the 
brook, but that was not nearer than the farm upon 
which the Bradfords live. The rocky ridge to the 
southward probably limited the lot in that direction. 
The general model of the sixty-acre lot was a mile 
in length and of width to correspond, but if the 
land was unfit for cultivation or alreadv pre-empted 
for hay privileges the width often exceeded the 
average of thirty-three or thirty-four rods by ten, 



fifteen, or even twentv rods. 'l"he longer lines also 
exceeded the record by twenty, thirty, and even 
forty rods. It has been explained bv old survevors 
in the following manner : The chain bearers 
added to the length f)f every chain ; when the fore- 
most man had drawn his chain straight from the 
hand of the rear man at the last pin, he took the 
end of the chain in one hand and a pin in the other 
hand and stepping as far as he could in advance 
he reached forward with the pin and dropped it. 
This method would increase each chain length 
about the measure of a man's stature, and the 
excess for a mile line would be about thirty rods. 
The next homestead in the range was laid out 
to William Aiken and comprised the farm now 
occupied by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Karr and some 
small pieces that have been deeded to other parties 
on the eastern end. Edward Aiken had the home- 
stead now owned by John Folsom, and this also 
extended originally farther east. The original 
eastern boundary of the Aikens homesteads was a 
small stream, which shows how much has been 
taken from the ends of all of these farms. John 
Wallace had the lot now occupied by L. H. Pills- 
bury, and Benjamin Wilson's homestead came next 
in order where Joseph R. Clark owns. Joseph R. 
Clark also owns the original homestead of Andrew 
Todd. In the records, owing to the obliquity of 
the angles, it was represented that each end 
line was thirty-one rods, but in fact there 
is none so narrow even in these most excellent 
lands. John Bell had one hundred acres laid out 
in one strip because he preferred to take his first 
and second divisions together, the homestead of 



93 




MAP OF THE AIKKNS RANGE. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



93 



sixtv and tlic sccoml dixision of lortv acres or its 
equivalent. HcmmkI this homestead the reiru- 
hirity of the ])hm of allotment is broken and 
the farms are laid out in such figures as the nature 
of the ground would best allow. '1 In- land nort h 
of John Bell's lot was laid out chieHy for second 
divisions and amendments, but it appears from 
records of roads and subsequent historv of the 
town that most of these ])ieces of land have been 
occupied at some time bv persons who liLiilt houses 
upon them and made homesteads of them, al- 
thou<i"h at present they are mostly deserted and 
only the marks of former cultivation are apparent 
in old field walls, garden S])')ts, stumps of orchard 
trees, wells, and stone foundations for houses and 
barns. 

On June 17, 1719, the town ordered a sawmill 
to be built upon Beaver river and entered into an 
agreement with Robert Boyce, James Gregg, 
Samuel Graves and Joseph Simonds, whereby they 
should have the privilege of the river from the 
l)ond downward to the bottom of the falls, but 
James Gregg alone had the right of building the 
gristmill. The sawmill was built about where 
Wallace VV. Poor's sawmill stands and had an acre 
of ground for a mill vard for storing boards and 
lumber. The gristmill was not far from the site of 
the present gristmill of Leando Hardv and Gregg's 
house on the south side of the road as it turns 
eastward b\- the gristmill. These men were allowed 
certain parcels of land as rewards for undertaking 
to sup|)lv the wants of the settlers in respect to 
Umibei' an<l corn meal and other meals at fi.xed 
prices. It is seen in reading over the allotment of 
lands that James Gregg had a forty-acre lot laid 
out to him in October of the ne.xt year on the 
nortiieih' sitle of the ri\er opposite to his honu'- 
stead and the mill sites, and that parcel of land 
covered the greater part of the space now occupied 
by I)err\' X'illage; on the river side it joined u])on 
his pri\ilege and the margin bv the river which Iil- 
used for a log \ard, the latter being in the vieinitv 
of the spot now occupied bv the factory of Benja- 
min Chase. Robert Bovce had also a fortv-acre 
parcel allotted to him, for similar reasons immc- 
tliatelv west of that allotted to Tames Grees:. The 
actions of the town are not alwavs understood, for 
it often appears that verbal agreements weri' en- 



tered into that never obtained the eonhrmation of 
a vote. Some agreement had been made with one 
William Gregg to give him a gristmill lot, but an 
indignation meeting was held upon the 4th day of 
April, 1720, and the resolution was passed that 
William Gregg for good reasons should not have 
the gristmill lot that was intended for him nor 
any other interest in the town of Nutfield. i\t a 
general town meeting held June 8, i 720, there was 
a resolution that John Hunter shall not have a lot 
in this town. Some of these proceedings appear 
to have been arbitrary and actuated by party spirit 
and are fuUv eciual to the average wrangling over 
rights and titles in the irontier settlements of the 
newer west of the present generation. 

As a specimen of the records in laying out 
the Aikens Range the lt)llowing is typical of all : 

Nutfield July 1720. A lot being laid out to William Aiken 
in the double range lying on the west of Beaver river containing 
sixty acres, its bounds and measures are as followeth : beginning 
at a small pine tree marked, from thence running a due north- 
north-west line thirty-one rods to another pine tree marked from 
thence running a due north-east line three hundred and twenty 
rods and bounding all the way upon Edward Aiken's lot unto a 
stake set u[) near a small brook, from thence to another stake 
near the same brook marked running a south-south-east line 
thirty-one rods, from thence running a due south-east line three 
hundred and twenty rods and joining all the way upon James 
Aiken's lot unto the pine tree first mentioned, together with an 
interest in the common or undivided lands of the said township 
equal to other lots in the said town. James McKeen, Robert 
\\'ear, James Gregg, John Goft'e, Committee. Recorded this 
2nd of August 1720. Pr. John Goffe. 

Town Cicrk. 

The descrijjtion of William Aiken's homestead 
is such that the location of both Edvyard and James 
Aiken is known. The two western corners of this 
lot were marked b\ bla/ing pine trees. One ac- 
(|uainted \yith Ihe soil ol that loealit\' is not sm- 
prised, although no indications ol pine are seen 
at present within the limits of the farm : in reality 
no forest remains upon an\- i)art of the lan^l. 

The Aikens were \yidel\' connected by mar- 
riages and remained for man\- geni'rations upon 
the same homesteads. Many living persons were 
contemporary with the latest generation of the 
Aikens that dwelt upon llieir ancestral lands, and 
many anecdotes arc told of their earlier generations 
illustrative of thi' habits and personal peculiarities 
t)t the race that uave a name to the ranee. The 



96 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



name Aikens Rang;e was not given at the time the 
land was laid out to them and their neighbors, but 
in a few months there were so many reasons for 
distinguishing the two double ranges, and also the 
two parts of the same double range, that the two 
parts were named from prominent men in either part 
and the term Double Range became restricted to 
the pair of ranges lying southeast of Beaver river, 
and the two lying northwest of the river ceased to 
be associated together or called the double range. 

The Bell family continued to live upon the 
original homestead until the close of the first quar- 
ter of the present century, and the last representa- 
tive of the name living and dying upon the spot is 
remembered by some of the present inhabitants of 
the town. 

The town records furnish numerous facts con- 
cerning the births, marriages, and deaths of the 
settlers in this range, and histories of these and 
neighboring towns contain abundant material for 
very complete genealogical sketches of these old 
familiar characters. The long residence of the 
Todds upon their original homestead and the dis- 



tinctions earned bv some of the men in the wars of 
the country have served to fix forever in the mem- 
ory of the living and perhaps to the coming genera- 
tions the abode of the Todds. The John Wallace 
homestead has made a deep im]3ression upon the 
memory of many on account of the noble elm 
trees that have been allowed to grow u]) around 
the buildings and the ample yard or lawn in front 
with so many associations of gentle deeds and 
gentle people. Many young people have received 
inspirations from the examples of Christian men 
and women that have moved and had their being 
among the quiet shades of those ancestral walks. 
All roads led to the great Canadian settle- 
ments that were older than those of the New 
Hampshire Province, and the settlers travelled be- 
tween these, trusting to the friendly guidance of 
the Indians. In the vague geographical knowledge 
of the times and the real uncertainty of territorial 
boundaries the early settlers came to speak of all 
the northern parts of the province and even of the 
grant on which they lived as Canada. To add to 
this confusion of terms there was an emigrant 




THE CHRISPEEN HOUSE, LONDONDERRY. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



97 



named Robert KLnnL'(l\-, who had received an 
allotment of land in the northwestern part of the 
town. A road was laid out passing- his land and 
house ; others settled alonjj that road and had 
adjoining- lands until by some aecident the road 
was called Kennedy street, and therefrom began a 
series of clerical errors. The street was Canada 
street and even the man's name appears to have 
undergone the same transformation. i\s three 
ranges of lands or lots were surveyed through this 
region, the distinction obtained of naming them 
Canada West, Canada Middle, ami Canada East 
Range. Then there came into the nomenclature 
of the township the term Canada Great Swamp, 
to include a vast region that was almost inacces- 
sible and is of little value now. 

From James Gregg's sawmill and gristmill 
there were two roads leading nortlurlv, not includ- 
ing the English Range road. One led directly 
through the Coghrans' lands, and the walls along 
the sides of this road are partly standing near 
the Ladd house, or the site of the old Hoyt build- 
ings. The other led through the Aikens Range. 
The Coghran road led over the Ramsey dam and 
into former Indian trails that took the same gen- 
eral direction towards the interior, and by way of 
the Amoskeag Falls where the fishing interests 
appear to have centred for a huntlred years. 
The Aiken road has remained without change, 
and a transcript of the record of its laying out is 
here presented : 

Londonderr}' Novbr. 6, 1723. Laid out iDy the selectmen 
a straight road in the west part of this town, beginning at the 
north side of John Bell's homestead lot wliere the old road now 
comes on the north side of the said Bell's house, and on the 
north of the fence, across Andrew Todd's lot, and Benjamin Wil- 
son's lot, and across John Wallace's lot continuing on the north 
side of the aforesaid fence where the path now is, and so across 
Ivlward Aiken's lot, and turning a little more easterly across 
William Aiken's lot and James Aiken's lot, the said road 
to be continued across the aforesaid lots four rods wide, 
and then slanting upon Robert Boyce's land, as the path 
is now until an oak tree marked on the line between 
the said Boyce and James Gregg, and so running along 
said line till it come to a swamp, and then turning all upon 
Boyce till it cross the said swamp, and then to turn to the 
said line till it come to another swamp, then to turn ujion Mr. 
Gregg's land till the bridge over Beaver brook, below the said 
Mr. Gregg's gristmill, the said road to be two rods wide from 
the coming on Boyce's land to the said bridge, this by order of 



the selectmen. .Samuel Moore, John Blair, Benjamin Wilson, 
Robert Boyce, .Selectmen. Recorded this 13th day of Septem- 
ber 1723. Per John MacMurphv, 

Town Cierk. 

The wall or fence along one side of the Aiken 
road, already there before the laying out of the 
road, was a necessity in keeping cattle out of the 
meadows that were already appropriated within 
every one of these lots. It is quite probable that 
the laying out of the road was a very formal trans- 
action and was merely the legal establishment of 
the bounds of a road that was already in constant 
use and indispensable. As now, there was a high- 
way the entire length of William Aiken's home- 
stead upon the line between his farm and Edward 
Aiken's. This road crossed the Coghran road and 
continued through the lands of John, Samuel, anil 
Janet McKeen, and through Robert McKeen's lot 
and joined with that other road that came from the 
English Range at the southeast corner of Joseph 
Kidder's fence and ran along by the pond and 
brook to the sawmill and gristmill below the falls. 

There was a meeting-house erected upon the 
Aikens Range that had a short but significant 
history. The site was upon the northerly side of 
the road leading from Mrs. Elizabeth H. Karr's 
house to that of P^ank P. Bradford and on the land 
of the latter upon the brow of a little hill. In the 
space covered by this map three meeting-houses 
have been erected, two of which remain standing. 
The changes that ha\e occurred on the lots of 
James Gregg and John Boyce cannot be described 
in this general review, but require separate treat- 
ment, and will most naturally come in the fuller 
accounts of industries, business, homes, families, 
and oenealogical sketches. 



DR. WILLIAM JOHNSON CAMPBELL 
was born at the t)ld homestead, " Campbell 
Springs," Francestown, N. H., July 30, 1820. His 
early education was received in Francestown and 
in Nashua. He then entered the Harvard Medi- 
cal School, from which he graduated with honors 
in the class of 1S42. thus receiving his diploma at 
the age of twenty-two years. From this time until 
his death he was in the active practice of his pro- 
fession, five years in his native town and twenty- 



98 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



seven years in the more enlarged field of usefulness 
in the town of Londonderry. Dr. Campbell was 
twice married, the first time in 1844, to Miss Sarah 
A. Cutter, daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Cutter 
of Jaffrey, N. H. Mrs. Campbell died in 1846, 
and on Nov. 15, 1849, Dr. Campbell was married 
to Miss Charlotte A. M. Philbrick, daughter of 
Nathan Philbrick of Weare, N. H. His widow 
and five children survive him. It is needless to 




DR. WILLIAM JOHNSON CAMPBELL. 

say that the ancestry of the Campbell famil\- is 
above reproach. The family can be traced back 
over two hundred years and numbers among its 
members many who were distinguished in the his- 
tory of Scotland. Dr. Campbell's gi-andfather 
fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and continued 
in the annv until the close of the war. His father 
was in the war of 181 2 and was major of Cook's 
regiment of Hillsborough countv. 



H 



GRACE GREELE\', the most tlistinguished 
ol American newspaper men, was descended 

not a native of 



from old Nutfield stock, thouoh 



Londonderry, having been born just over the line 
in Amherst. The following characteristic letter 
from him was written to Rev. Edward L. Parker, 
while the latter was preparing his History of Lon- 
donderry, and possesses so much genealogical and 
other interest that it is here published for the first 
time : 

New York, Sept. 25, 1849. 

Dear Sir: I have your letter of the 17th this moment, 
and must give it a hurried answer at once, as I leave town for 
several days tomorrow, and my letters that get behind are pretty 
certain to remain unanswered. 

I will do what I can to promote the success of your enter- 
prise. I think it will be best, however, to invite all to communi- 
cate directly with you. as my correspondence is so large that it is 
very badly neglected, and I should not like to be the means of 
your losing anything transmitted, whether of information or en- 
couragement. 

I can give you personally very little aid in your work. 
Genealogies never interested me — I think we have other work to 
do than trace our ancestors — but your enterprise has noble aims 
and must have good issues. I was not born in Londonderry, but 
in Amherst, the first house in the township on the old road from 
Bedford Meeting-House. But my parents were both from Lon- 
donderry, and most of their parents before them. You may 
learn most of the Greeleys by a letter to Deacon Samuel 
(jreeley of Boston, who is of the Wilton branch of the family. Col. 
Joe Greeley of Nashua (a cousin of my father) is probably also 
well versed in family history. My two grandfathers died within 
a few rods of each other in Londonderry (the High Range, near 
the west side of the town). (Grandfather Zaccheus Greeley died 
at his son John Greeley's, who still lives there. Grandfather was 
94 years old when he died, some three years ago. His father 
was also named Zaccheus, and was a trader and lumber dealer 
(a rogue. I have heard) in what is now Hudson. He lived to about 
70. My imprcEsion is that the family came over quite early, and 
first settled in Salisbury, wherever that may be. My branch of 
it has generally hung about the Merrimack and Nashua, and I 
have an impression that Capt. Zaccheus Lovell, or Lovewell, 
who commanded and was killed in a famous Indian fight long ago, 
was an ancestor of mine. Both " Zaccheus " and " Lovell " are 
freely used as Christian names in our family. John Greeley, my 
only uncle now in Londonderry, knows considerable, though not 
so much as he thinks he does. As he lives by the side of John 
W'oodburn, who now holds the land allotted to the first Wood- 
burn in the original settlement of the town, I think it might be 
worth your while to look over there some day. 

My grandmother on my father's side was Esther Senter, of 
an old Londonderry family, now mainly scattered away. 

The Woodburns you already know. My grandfather was 
David, father of John, who now holds the farm. I think my 
great-grandfather's name was John, but you will easily learn. 

My grandmother was Margaret Clark, whose mother (I think) 
came over a girl with the original emigration or soon after. She 
was of the family of Rev. Lieut. Clark, whose mingled clerical 



WILLED S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



99 



and military character is already widely known. I believe the 
Clarks are nearly all away now. My grandmother died some 
55 'to 60 years ago, and her husband married again — a jane 
Caldwell or McAlister, who survived him, but is also long 
dead. But my great-grandmother (who was a Clark before 
she was a Woodburn) was a woman of remarkable intelli- 
gence, and she gave the family history to my mother very 
fully and vividly. Mother still lives (address Clymer, Chau- 
lauciua Co., N. Y.), but is broken down in mind and l)o<ly, 
and 1 fear she would not be able to write anything that would be 
worth having. Perhaps her sister (Mrs. John Dickey, two miles 
north of old Londonderry Meeting-House) could give you some 
facts respecting the Clarks as well as Woodburns (though the 
former only have been notable), but I never heard her speak on 
the subject. But there is a Judge Clark, now residing in New 
Haven, Conn., who is full of the matter, and you ought to write 
him. He can really help you, and will be very glad to do it. 
I forget his first name, but there is no other Judge Clark in 
New Haven. 

There can be no doubt that your liook will sell. There are 
at least 50,000 people now alive who claim descent from Lon- 
donderry. Yours, Horace Greeley. 

Rev. E. L. Parker, Deny, N. H. 

P. S. — Your Prospectus don't say what your book is to cost. 
Put me down as subscribing for five copies. Don't forget to notice 
the swarming of the old hive to Vermont, settling Londonderry, 
Windham, etc., in that state. The Woodburns are mainly there 
now. I saw several of them last month. 



JOSHUA A. MOAR was born in Peterboi-oup:h, 
N. H., Nov. 10, 1 8 14. He was third son of 
Timothy and Betsey (Hopkins) Moar, whose family 
consisted of twelve children. His early life was 
spent in his native town, and his later boyhood in 
Milford, N. H., where the family for a lonq- time 
resided. In early manhood he went to Boston 
and applied himself to the study of medicine, but 
instead of entering the profession he was led to 
pursue another course, and later in life established 
a home in Londonderry. He was married Aug. 6, 
1837, to Lovina Witherspoon, the ceremony being 
performed by Rev. RoUin H. Neale of Boston. 
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moar. 
all daughters. The eldest, Mary A., was married 
to Henry Goodwin, whose sketch is given else- 
where in the present work. Five of the children 
survive the father, whose death occurred Sept. 26, 
1872. Mrs. Moar died Dec. 26, 1882. Mr. Moar 
was a tender husband and father, a kind and genial 
neighbor, an honored townsman, and a Christian 
gentleman. In him affabilitv was blended with 
lumness, and, ever conscious of human frailty, he 



sought to realize the highest ideals of human 
character. His devotion to religious principles 
was no less marked than his love for his fellow- 
man. In the Methodist church and society he 
worketl with an earnestness which was the rcstdt 




JOSHUA A. MOAR. 

of continuous consecration to the Master's service. 
Hospitality was an especial characteristic of his 
nature, and he found great delight in the com- 
panionship of his friends. The genial and whole- 
some influence of his kindly and upright life will 
lone remain. 



PLAIN SPEAKING, even to a clergyman, 
was the custom among the blunt Scotch 
settlers of Nutfield. If they had anything to say, 
they never beat about the bush. It is related of 
one of the early ministers — tradition has kindly 
concealed his identity — that after passing a long 
and laborious day in parochial visits, he rode up 
toward evening to the house of one of his elders. 
He had, as a matter of course, been urged at every 
dwelling to partake of the stimulants which were 
then considered indispensable, and, between fatigue 
and the excessive hospitality of his parishioners, 
he found it difficult to keep himself upright in the 
saddle. The elder's keen eye took in the situation. 
" Won't ye light doun, parson," said he, " and come 
in and get something to eat? For I perceive ye've 
had enough to drink already ! " 



THE HOVEY FAMILY. 



TWE earliest tradition of (he name of 1 lovey in 
America, as renuinheied li\' tiie descendants, 
is tiic arrival of three brotiiers who came fiom 
Eno^land and settled in New iMiyland, oni- in Mas- 
sachiisetts.dne in \'ei mont, and oni- in ("onnecticut. 
'riu'\- wi're \()un<i' men, all meelianies, and soon 
reared families and made n-putations of sterling- 
character and ac(|uiri'd an inlluence which has 
been sustained 1)\' all I heir di'scendanls. The 
earliest recoided dali' of a hiilh in the famil\- name 
in ihis eounlr\- is that of Samuel Hovey, Jr., horn 
in Windham, Conn., March 7, 174,1. Joseph 
llo\ (.'V was born at l|)swich, Mass.. Dee. 17, 1762, 
and was descended from the brother who settled 
in tliat state. He was a sea captain; he located in 
Londonderry and dii-d on his larm near Derry 
Depot, where the latt' John Merrill li\ed and died. 
His children were : Jose])h, Jr.. John, Isaac, James, 
Sallie, 15i-tse\-, Lueretia, Chailotte, Eunice, Robert, 
and Charles. |osi'ph, |r., died at tlu' same place. 
lie left two sons and two dauiihters : Jose|)h, Wil- 
liam, Paulina (Mrs. Merrill), and Sarah. John was 
a mechanic; he married Abi_ti;ail Dustin, and was 
the owner of three places in Londonderry, — one 
in the Crowell neiyhborhood, the Joslin farm near 
Derry Villa,i>e, and the farm at the Baptist church 
(the Cornino; settlement). Tie moved to Marietta, 
()., in iSj;q and died there in 1S51. His wife ilied 
in that i)lace in 1SS4. Light ehiUlren were bt)rn 
to them : Jt)hn D. (who was a teacher in western 
Ohio), iVlbert C. (who went to Oregon in 1S50), 
Milton (architt'ct and builder, deceased. Marietta, 
Ohio), James 15. (merchant in Marietta), Frank S. 
(nuaehant and accountant, died in Oregon), George 
'1". (architect and builder in Marietta), Abbie D., 
the youngest (Mrs. Sprague of Marietta), antl 
Mary W. (the oldest of the children, married Rev. 
Dr. Mather of Delaware, O.). Isaac Hovey was a 
physician at Atkinson, N. H. He left one son, 
Isaac. James, who died in Boston, left one son, 
James, deceased in ilbnois. Sallie married E. Dan- 
forth. Lueretia and Charlotte remained unmar- 
ried. Eunice married a Mr. Gouch of Boston, and 
Betsey was also married. Robert and Charles left 
families in New England. 



.Albert (i., son of John and Abigail (Dustin) 
Hovey, was born in Londonderry in 18 — . tfis 
father, who was a farmer, carpenter, contractor and 
buildi'r, was a verv able and energetic man. lie 
constructed several of the principal buildings in 
Londonderr\', including the Baptist church, and 
had a wide reputation as a master at his trade and 
a man of scrupulous integrity. His wife, Abigail 
Dustin. who was a highlv educated woman for her 
time, died at the age of ncarh' ninety at Marietta, O. 
Albert Ct. Hovey attended the common schools of 
his native town, and among his companions at the 
Eakin scht)olhouse, near Derrv \'illage, he well 
remembers the names of Eakin, Ealev, Carr, Carl- 
ton, Chent'w Belloa, Perkins, Page, McMurpln, 
and others. .\t the Barclay school his school- 
mates included Atlams, Dickey, Boise, Watts. 
McGregor, Perkins, Annis, Anderson, Crowell, 
and Brickett, ami at the Corning school there were 
Corning, Pillsburv, Jackson, Nesmith, Davis, Mor- 
rison, Annis, and Richardson. Mr. Hovey went 
with his parents to Ohio in 1839, and in 1850 he 
went to the Pacific coast, locating in Oregon, 
where he has since resided. Although he has 
never sought honors or office, he has held many 
places of public trust in his adopted state. He 
has been clerk of the courts, mavor of the citv of 
luigene, state senator, three times a delegate to 
Republican national conventions, and in 1892 was 
appointed bv President Harrison on the Board of 
\"isitors to the L^nited States Military Academy at 
West Point. Mr. Hovey is a member of the Board 
of Regents and treasurer of the State Universitv of 
Oregon. He is president and chief owner of the 
Lane Countv Bank, established at Eugene, Oregon, 
in 1S82. Mr. Hovey is married and has two sons 
and one daughter. Although warmlv attached to 
his adopted state, he retains a lOnd remembrance 
of his native town and the highest regard for all 
her people, both earlv and later acquaintances. In 
a recent letter to the publisher of this work he 
savs : " I beg to sav that so far as the soil of Lon- 
donderrv is concerned, it is the poorest country 
I have ever known inhabited bv such a noble 
people," 




EZRA W. BARTLETT. 



102 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



DENIS A. HOLLAND was born in St. John, 
N. B., June 17, 1863, and when but a child 
with his parents removed to this city, where he 
was educated in the public and parochial schools, 
including the old high school, corner of Lowell 
and Chestnut streets. After concluding school 
life he became bookkeeper for McQuade Brothers 
and afterward entered the employ of Wilson 
& Rand as book- 
keeper, where he 
continued under ex- 
Councilman Cox, 
who succeeded Wil- 
son & Rand. In 1887 
he embarked in the 
coal business with 
J. H. DeCourcy, sell- 
ina: his interest to 
Mr. DeCourcy in 
April, 1894. He is 
now conducting a 
general business 
agency, including fire 
and life insurance, 
real estate brokerage 
and business inci- 
dental thereto. His 
offices are at 30 and 
32 Opera Block. Mr. 
Holland served as a 
director in the Man- 
chester Board of 
Trade in 1892 and 
1893, for five years 
was secretary of the 
Democratic Granite 
State Club, and is 
now its vice presi- 
dent. He is a member of St. Joseph's Cathedral, 
Knights of Columbus, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, Amoskeag Veterans, and Derrvfield 
Club. May 12, 1887, he married Nellie S., daugh- 
ter of John DeCourcy of North Weare, N. H. 
Three children have been born to them : Gertrude 
DeCourcy, Mary Isabella, and Theodore Vincent. 
Mr. Holland is considered one of the most 
reliable and capable of Manchester young busi^ 
ness men, 




DENIS A. HOLLAND. 



T^HE NEW CITV HOTEL is a magnificent 
1 four-story brick structure, located on Elm 
street, Nos. 11 28 to 11 38. Electric cars to and 
from the depot, Massabesic lake, and all other 
parts of the citv, pass the door every few minutes. 
The central location of the hotel makes it one of 
the most desirable and convenient stopping places 
in the city. The house was opened about four 

years ago by Charles 
H. Perkins, who was 
succeeded by Fred 
Cotton in 1895. Un- 
der the new manage- 
ment many improve- 
ments have been in- 
augurated, a score of 
new rooms having 
been added. The 
house has practically 
been refitted and re- 
furnished, and there 
is no modern im- 
provement for the 
convenience, com- 
fort, and pleasure of 
guests that it does 
not possess. The 
house has upwards 
of seventy-five sleep- 
ing rooms, single and 
en suite. The par- 
lors, sleeping rooms, 
halls, and corridors 
are large and ele- 
gantly furnished, and 
cleanliness is one of 
their chief virtues. 
The handsome din- 
ing room, located on the first floor, has a seating 
capacity for one hundred. Mr. Cotton has 
equipped the dining room with electric fans, and 
aside from being cool and comfortable, it presents 
an inviting and attractive appearance. The New 
City Hotel has become widely and popularly 
known for its first class service and excellent 
accommodations. It is in all respects up to date, 
and has a very large patronage. (See cut of hotel 
&n.d portrait of proprietor, page 344.) 



NUTFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION, 



SPRUNG from a hardv nice of warriors who for Inglis, tifer. The j^rivatcs in the company were: 
generations had battled for civil or religious Matthew Anderson, Robert Adams, Samuel Ayres, 
rio-hts, and in whom the love of liberty amounted Hugh Alexander, John Anderson, Alexander 
to a passion, the descendants of the Nutfield Hrown, William Boyd, John Campbell, Thomas 
settlers could not have been otherwise than in- Campbell, Peter Christie, Solomon Collins, Ste- 
tensely patriotic in the Revolution. Indeed, the phen Chase, William Dickey, James Duncan, 
first act of open resistance to British authority and Samuel Dickey, John Ferguson, John Head, Asa 
arms in the colonies was committed by a little Senter, Samuel Houston, Jonathan Holmes, Peter 
band of Londonderry men. Long before the battle Jenkins, John Livingstone, Hugh Montgomery, 
at Lexington, while the British troops were sta- John Morrison, James Morrison, Joseph Mack, 
tioncd in Boston, four soldiers deserted and joined Martin Montgomery, Robert McMurphy, William 
friends in Londonderry. Their hiding place having McMurjihy, William Moore, Robert Mack, David 
been revealed bv a Tory, an English officer with a McClary, Archibald Mack, James Nesmith, James 
detachment of soldiers was sent to arrest them. Nesmith, Jr., William Parker, Joshua Reid, William 
The deserters were soon fouml and marched back Rowrll, Thomas Roach, Abel Senter, Samuel 
toward Boston, but the fact quickly became known Thompson, John Vance, Hugh Watts, Thomas 
in the town, and a party of young men, led by Wilson, John Patterson, Henry Parkinson, Samuel 
Captain James Aiken, pursued and overtook them Stinson, John Smith, Richard Cressey, James 
a few miles from Haverhill. Passing the British Moore, and six men from Windham. 
soldiers on the road, the captain suddenly drew up In August, 1776, a company, commanded by 
his men in front of them and commanded the offi- Captain John Nesmith, was raised in which were 
cer to deliver his prisoners. The order was obeyed, thirty-nine men from Londonderry. Of these the 
and the four soldiers returned with their liberators new enlistments were : Samuel Cherry, ensign ; 
to Londonderrv and became residents of the town, Solomon Todd, sergeant; Michael George, drum- 
no further attempts being made for their arrest, mer; Timothv Dustin, fifer, and John McClurg, 
That was the spirit manifested by the men of Nut- William Rogers, Robert McCluer, James Ewins, 
field before the outbreak of hostilities, and the Robert Boyes, Jr., John Orr, Samuel Rowell, John 
warlike frenzy that seized the town when the news Humphrey, John Cox, Edward Cox, John Ander- 
came from Lexington in April, 1775, can easilv be son, Jr., Thomas White, Ephraim White, James 
imagined. Men stopped their work instantlv to Moor, Samuel Layers, John Ramsey, David George, 
carry the word from one section of the town to Jonathan Gregg, Abner Andrews, Alexander 
another, and in a few hours all wiio could bear Craige, W^illiam Colby, Patrick Fling, William 
arms were assembled on the common, near the Adams, James Boyes, Jr., Jonathan George, 
meeting-house. A large volunteer companv was Charity Killicut, and John Lancaster, privates; 
formed from the two companies of militia and with these additional enlistments in December, 
started at once to join the American troops near 1776: Jonathan Wallace, William Lvon, Moses 
Boston, their accoutrements, ammunition, and pro- Watts, Thomas McClary, Jesse Jones, Arthur 
visions being forwarded to them afterward. Of Nesmith, John Todd, Benjamin Nesmith, James 
tills company George Reid, who subsequently be- Hobbs, Nathan Whiting, Benjamin Robinson, 
came distinguished, was chosen captain ; Abraham David Marshall, William Burroughs. 
Reid, first lieutenant ; James Anderson, ensign and In 1777 and 1778 about fifty men enlisted, 
second lieutenant ; John Patten, quartermaster ser- many of whom had previously seen service ; in 1779 
geant ; Daniel Miltimore, John Nesmith, Robert there were seventeen enlistments; in 1780, thir- 
Barnet, John Mackey, sergeants; James McCluer, teen ; in 1781, thirty. The town voted, in March, 
Robert Boyes, Jt)shua Thompson, George McMur- 1777, to "raise a bounty of eighteen pounds ster- 
phy, corporals; Robert Burke, drummer; Thomas ling for each man that is now wanting to make up 

103 



104 



WrLT.ET'S T^nOK OF Nr^TPJFI.D. 



our coin|)Knu'nt of niL-n," ami in April tiic bounty 
was increased to thirty pounds sterling'. In Jan- 
uary, 1778, the selectmen were authorized to ])ro- 
vide for the families of soldiers belono^ino; to the 
town. During the entire struyyle of eio'ht years, 
Londonderrv not onlv linnished her lull propor- 
tion of retjular troops, but the repi'ated emcriren- 
cies which called for special aid were met with 
readiness. According to the census taken in 177S, 
there were in the town of Londonderry four hun- 
dred and four males between the ages of sixteen 
and fifty, and si.xty-si.x of these were in the army, — 
a larger number than from any other town in the 
county. Portsmouth sent onl\- lift\' men, and 
there was but one town in the state which contril)- 
uted more soldiers than Londonderry; that town 
was Amherst, which sent eighty-one. London- 
derry paitl lor bountii's a larger sum than anv 
other town, and it is belux'ed that, including volun- 
teers and recruits for the continental line, she ac- 



tualh' furnished a greater number of soldiers than 
any other town. Her list of distinguished officers, 
headed by Generals Stark and Reid, includes 
Colonel William Gregg, Captain Daniel Reynolds, 
and Lieutenants McClary and Adam Taylor. 
Lieutenant McClary, who was killed at Benning- 
ton, was the only man from Londonderrv who lost 
his life in battle during the war. 

npHE FIRST ROAD in Nutfield, joining the 
■* two \'illages, is thus referred to in the records 
of Feb. 13, 1720: "A by-way laid out from the 
bridge below the sawmill, from thence running 
sou-easterly by Mr. Gregg's hous, from thence 
turning more easterly, along by James Clark's new 
hous, & so up b}^ James Neasmath's & so along as 
the old way as far as the east corner of Robert 
Wear's fence." Dec. 16, 1725, the selectmen in- 
dorsed the road as laid out, and voted that it be 
"two rods wide cS: to be open (S; common without 




SU.ME CATHOLIC IXSTITUTlOXS IN MAN'CHIOSTER. 

RESIDENCE OK BISHOP BRADLEY. ST. PATRICK'S ORPHANAC.E H)R C.IRI.S. 

MOUNr ST. MARV"S ACADEMY. ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHANAGE I'OR KUVS. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



105 



crates & bars." About the same time the En.tjiish 
Ranitje road was laid out, and in 1 724 the road to 
" Ammasceegg Falls" was laid out hv Captain 
[ames Gregg and William Aiken. The roads from 
the East Church in Derry to the pond, and that 
running south bv the cemetery, and also the high- 
way across the Double Range south of Westrun- 
ning brook were all laid out b\' the selectmen 
June 1, 1723. The Aikens Range road, four rods 
wide across the Aiken lots and two rods wide 
through the village to the mill, was laid out Nov. 



172 



the Chester road, N 



ov. I 



1723 ; the 



higlnva\' between Derrv village and the Depot, in 
1737; the Londonderry turnpike, in 1806; the 
road in Londonderry running east to meet the 
Aikens Range road, June 19, 1730; and the main 
road across Londonderry, east and west to Litch- 
field, in 1744; and from Dissmore's Corner north 
to the Baptist Church, in 1745. Stjme of the 
highways that were laid out were never built, and 
for years they were nothing more than bridle-paths. 

[AMES WEBSTER was born in Atkinson, 
"J N. H., Sept. 22, 1799. He was descended 
from sturdy New England stock that had inhabited 
that part of the country for many years. His 
father with his family, including the subject of 
this sketch, moved to Derry in 18 16, and purchased 
the farm in the southeastern part of the town 
known as the " Wood place," which still remains 
in the possession of a grandson. James Webster 
was married Jan. 22, 1829, to Maria Eavrs of Dun- 
stable (now Nashua) at Newburvport, Mass., where 
the bride then lived. The newlv married eoujtle 
ri'lurncd to the paternal home in Derry and con- 
tinued to reside there ever afterward. One half 
the pi'o|)erlv was deeded to James, who carried on 
tile farm, sharing the house with iiis [larents and 
one brotlier until their death. Nine children were 
born to him : James Henry, H. Maria, Charles P., 
Sarah A., George A., Ellen A., Mary P., Julia S., 
and John E. Two have died ; the others are mar- 
rit'd. The mother was born \\W\\ 4, 1808, and 
died May 14, 1875. The father died Aug. 19, 1881. 
Such is the record of a most worthy and happy family 
lite, uneventful though it was in great or strik- 
ing deeds. He was captain of a military company, 



and the title always clung to him. He never 
sought for office. He was a man of sturdy integ- 
rity, of genial manner, of dignified bearing, and 
sympathetic heart. He and his wife were mem- 
bers of the Congregational church for many years. 
Both were best known and appreciated in their 
happy home, but when they passed away there was 
a meat void in neighborhood and town, recognized 
by a host of loving friends. His home was one of 
generous hospitality, from which no stranger was 





'^ \ 




^ «\^ 


^ 


^ 


V 1 


1^ 


\\l 


1 \v ^ 

I 



JAMES WEBSTER. 



ever turned away hungry, and where the call of 
suffering was never unheeded. The loss of his 
wife, a devoted companion for more than forty-six 
years, was a blow from which Mr. Webster never 
recovered ; but with a fortitude born of true Chris- 
tian faith his nati\e sunnv temperament still 
lighted up his househoKI. At a ripe old age he 
passed away, with loving hands to minister to his 
wants, yielding up a life rich in the fruitage of the 
good and true. 

T^HE LEACH LIBRARY in Londonderry 
1 owes its origin to a fund of three thousand 
dollars bequeathed by David Rollins Leach, who 
was born in Londonderry, Aug. 8, 1806, and died 
at Manchester, April i, 1878. At its next annual 



\ 



io6 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NirTFIELD. 



meeting the town voted to accept the bequest, 
chose a board of nine trustees and authorized the 
selectmen to build an addition to the town hall for 
a library room. About one thousand books were 
on the shelves when the library was thrown open 
for use, F"eb. 25, 1880, and since then about one 
thousand more have been added, making a very 
creditable and useful collection. There was a 




DAVID ROLLINS LEACH. 

social library of several hundred volumes, kept first 
at the store of William Anderson, in 1830, and 
transferred in 1834 to the house of Robert Mack. 
A few years later the books were sold at auction 
and the proceeds divided among the stockholders. 
In 1858, forty residents of the town purchased a 
small lil)rary of about two hundred \'olumes, which 
were later donated to the Leach library. 



r^UR HOME JUBILEE.— A poem written 
^-^ \\\ Lucinda J. Gregy- and read by Rev. J. T. 
McCoUom at the Londonderry celebration, 1869: 

Let Nutfield today sound its merriest notes ! 
Let the hills and the vales catch the strain as it floats ! 
Ring out the loud echoes from mountain to sea, 
And rejoice in the day of our glad Jubilee ! 



From the Kast. from the North, from the prairies afar. 
From the Pine Tree domains to the southern Lone Star, 
We wanderers come to the cherished home-fold, 
To unite in one song for the bright days of old. 

A song for the true, and a song for the brave, 
Who came from afar o'er the easterly wave ; 
One song for the lake on whose beautiful shore, 
Their wanderings ended, they worshipped of yore. 

Today we will sing of the brown homes they made. 

Where earnest hands toiled, and where loving hearts prayed : 

And the home for the .Sabbath, just over the way. 

The sacred old church, that's one hundred today. 

In our jubilant song conies a sadder refrain ; — 

For the forms of the fathers we see not again. 

Ill their green-covered houses on yonder white lull, 

\\ ith the marble doors locked, they are sleeping so still ! 

In that glorious day when the sleepers arise, 

W hen together we go to our home in the skies. 

It is then we shall know — but, oh ! never till then — • 

How much we all owe to those brave, faithful men. 

Adown the long years comes a noble array : 
Ah ! many are found on Fame's roll-call today. 
From these valle)S and hills has an army of worth. 
Of talent and trust, gone to bless the wide earth. 

Of those left at home, there is many a name, 

All heroic, all noble, unspoken by Fame : — 

One sigh for the dead, — for the living, one song ! 

God bless the loved homeland that claims all the throng ! 

Then hail to old Deny ! its lake and its lea. 
Its beautiful stream winding down to the sea, 
Its wondrous old trees with the evergreen crest. 
Its fine, fertile fields, sloping green to the west ! 

k\\ hail to old Nutfield ! whose broader expanse 
Our forefathers claimed as the years did advance ; 
We always shall love thee, wherever we roam, 
.\nd breathe out a prayer for our earliest home. 

But Time's speeding onward ; how soon in its flight 

Will it bear us afar and away out of sight ! 

How few, on another centennial day, 

^Vill return and talk over the years sped away ! 

But we hope, oh ! we hope, when our earth-day is done, 
When our tent 's taken down at life's last setting sun, 
On the Plains all immortal, with glory untold. 
We shall sing of the days that can never grow old. 



HON. CYRUS A. SULLOWAY. 



HON. CYRUS A. SULLOWAY, son of 
Greeley and Betsey L. Sulloway, was horn 
in Grafton, June 8, 1839. His youth was spent 
upon his father's farm, and his opportunities for 
acquirino; a hheral education were of that restricted 
character common to New Hampshire farmer boys 
of that period. Bv his enterprise and zeal, how- 
ever, he succeeded in 
sup[)lementing- his dis- 
trict school education 
hy an academic course 
at Colby Academv in 
New Lon d on. In 
1 86 1 he heoan the 
study of law with Pike 
(& Barnard of Frank- 
lin, the senior mem- 
ber of which firm died 
while holding the of- 
fice of LTnited States 
senator, and thejunior 
that of attorncv-gen- 
eral of the state. Mr. 
Sulloway was admit- 
ted to the bar at Ply- 
mouth in November, 
1863, and soon there- 
after removed to Man- 
chester and entered 
into copart n ers h i p 
with Samuel D. Lord, 
under the firm name 
of Lord (Sl Sullowav. 
This business copart- 
nership continued for 
ten years and was 
eminently successful, 
securintr a wide client- 
age and a lucrative practice. Upon its dissolution 
Mr. Sulloway associated with himself Mr. E. M. 
Topliff, under the firm name of Sulloway & Topliff. 
The practice of this firm has been very extensive, 
and among the largest in the state. From 1873 
to 1878 Mr. Sulloway was deputy collector of in- 
ternal revenue. He was a member of the legisla- 
ture in 1872, '73, '79, '91, and '93, serving as chair- 




HON. CYRUS A. SULLOWAY. 



man of the committee on elections during his first 
term and twice subsequently as chairman of the 
judiciary committee. Upon his first entry into 
legislative life he at once took commanding posi- 
tion as leader, which position he maintained with 
consummate ability during his entire career of legis- 
lative experience. His conspicuous service in this 

capacity gave hi m 
wide fame and great 
popularity throughout 
the state. Always an 
active partisan in 
whatever he espoused, 
he entered into the 
heated controversies 
that agitated the legis- 
lature during his mem- 
bership, with zeal and 
enthusiasm and al- 
ways as the central 
figure of the most ex- 
cited controversy. In 
the fall of 1894 Mr. 
Sulloway received the 
unanimous Republi- 
can nomination for 
congress in the first 
district, and at once 
entered upon the can- 
vass with his charac- 
teristic ardor and im- 
]ietuositv, and the re- 
sult was his trium- 
phant election by more 
than 6000 plurality. 
This was the first test 
of his personal and 
political popularity be- 
fore so large a constituency, embracing one half 
of the state, and the outcome justified the high 
expectations which his friends have long enter- 
tained as to his strong hold upon the favor and 
good will of the people of the state. As a lawyer, 
and especially as a jury advocate, Mr. Sulloway 
has achieved a most pronounced success, and his 
future prospects, both political and professional. 



107 



io8 WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 

oujjht tu satisfy the most exacting ambition. Mr. initials of llie ciiurclies, were distributed to prevent 

Sulloway was married May 31, 1864, to Helen M., intruders. Long, narrow tables were spread in the 

daughter of Jonathan W. and Theodorah D. Fifield aisles, and sometimes three or four sittings, ar- 

of Franklin. One daughter, Belle H., was born July ranged according to age, would be necessary, pro- 

^i, 1868. Mrs. Sullowav having deceased July 20, tracting the services until sunset. These seasons 

1S92, Mr. Sullowav, on Mav 31, 1894, married were often attended with many conversions. 
Miss Martha J. Webster of Haverhill, Mass. 



WORLDLY WISDOM and practical sagacity 
were i)roniinent traits in the character ot 
the Scotch Irishmen who settled Nuttield. 
Dealers in mythical corner lots and nebulous west- 
ern real estate and confidence men of every species 
would have earned but a precarious livelihood 
among those alert, long-headed men. The advice 
of one of the elders to a young man who was about 
journeying into a new country is worthy to go 
with the celebrated counsels of Polonius to Laertes. 
The young man was to carry considerable silver 
money, and the elder said to him : " When ye 
come into a strange hoose, don't set doun your 
saddle-bags as if there was eggs in 'em, nor yet 
fling them doun so as to chink the coin ; but put 
them doun indiffcrentlv, in a corner where you can 
sec 'em, but never look at 'em." 



/^-^OMMUNION SEASONS in the early davs 
V_> of the Nutfield settlement were held only 
twice a year and were occasions of great impor- 
tance to the church. In 1734 Mr. Thompson had 
seven hundred communicants present at one sea- 
son, the number including members of the church 
residing; in other settlements and members of 
other churches. Communion seasons were pre- 
ceded by preaching on Thursday, Friday, and 
Saturday. Thursday was observed with great 
strictness as a sacramental fast-day, and any viola- 
tion of it was a serious matter. One church mem- 
ber was disciplined for spreading out hay to dry on 
a Thursday. The Monday following communion 
was a day of thanksgiving. These extra services 
gave rise to much preaching, requiring the aid of 
other ministers. Communicants from several 
churches, with their ministers and elders, often 
united in the sacrament on the Sabbath. Small 
pieces of metal called tokens, stamped with the 




^^"■ 




A ^ 



WILLIAM PARKER CLARK, son of Dea- 
con William Danforth and Almira Eliza- 
beth (Dodge) Clark, was born in Derrv, April 30, 
1845. He was educated in the pulilic and in select 
schools in the adjoining town of Auburn, after- 
ward taking a commercial course at Comers' Col- 
lege in Boston. In the spring of 1863 Mr. Clark 
went to Nashua, and worked on a farm the three 
following summers for Mr. George McQuesten, 
who took a kindly and salutary interest in his 
welfare, and whose influence upon him was as good 

as that of a parent. 
In October, 1865, 
he entered the ser- 
vice of Holt &. 
McQuesten, flour 
and grain dealers, 
in the Laton build- 
ing, Railroad 
square, and by con- 
stant attention to 
business he gainetl 
the confidence ot 
his employers and 
became a member 
of the firm. In 
lateryears the busi- 
ness was trans- 
ferred to the store 
under the First Baptist Church, Main street, 
where it is still carried on under the firm 
name of McOuesten & Co., the firm consisting 
of Ezra P. Howard, William P. Clark, and 
Joshua W. Hunt. In 1868 Mr. Clark married 
Miss Elizabeth S. Davis of Dover, N. H. Three 
daughters have been added to the family : Lillian, 
Yennie Ethel, and Evangelyn May Clark. Mr. 
Clark has always taken a deep interest in political 
affairs, being a Republican. Fie is also an active 
member of the First Congregational Church. 






WILLIAM PARKER CLARK. 



DIOCESE OF MANCHESTER. 



RT. REV. DENIS M. BRADLKW Ihst Catho- ship with great cxccutivL- ahiHty and personal traits 
lie bishop of Manchester, was born in Ire- that have endeared him to hosts of non-Catholics, 
land I-\'b 2^, 1846. When he was eight years of and he has thus been able to allay much of the 



age his mother came to America and with her five 
children settled in Manchester. After attending 
the Catholic schools of the town, the boy was sent 
to the College of the lIol\- Cross, Worcester, and 
upon graduating from that institution he entered 
upon the study of theologv in St. Joseph's Pro- 
vincial Seminarv at 
Trov, N. \'., and was 
there onlained to the 
priesthood June 3, 1871, 
by Rt. Rc\-. Bishop 
MeOuaid of Rochester. 
Manchester at that 
time belonged to the 
diocese of Portland, 
and Bishop Bacon ap- 
pointed the young 
|)riest to the cathedral 
in the latter citv, where 
he remained during the 
lifetime of that prelate, 
serving during the last 
two vears as rector of 
the cathedral and chan- 
cellor of the diocese. 
He continued to dis- 
charge tiie same duties 
under Bishop Healey 
until June 16, 1880, 
when he was appointed 
pastor of St. Joseph's 
C h u re h, Manchester. 
Upon the erection of 




RT. REV. DENIS U. BRADLEY. 



prejudice that has always existed in New Hamp- 
shire against his religion. The first Catholic 
church in the state was built in i8:>3 by Rev. 
Virgil H. Barber, a convert. Ten years later 
another church was erected at Dover, and for 
twent\' vears these were the onlv Catholic churches 

in New Hampshire. 
In 1847 Rev. John B. 
Daly, a Franciscan 
father, began a church 
in Manchester. The 
Sisters of Mercy, the 
first religious commu- 
nitv established in New 
Hampshire, came to 
Manchester u n d e r 
Mother Francis Wardc, 
at the request of Rev. 
Wm. McDonald, in 
i860. At the time of 
Bishop Bradley's con- 
secration in St. Joseph's 
Church, which is now 
his cathedral, there were 
thirty-seven churches 
and chapels in the state, 
and thirtv-cight priests. 
The Catholic popula- 
tion of New Hamp- 
shire was about 50,000, 
and there were 3,300 
pujiils in the Catholic 
schools. In the eleven 



the state of New Hampshire into a separate dio- years of Bishop Bradley's administration the num- 
cese in 1884, Father Bradley was recommended ber of Catholics in the state has increased to 
for the new see by the bishops of New England nearly 90,000, and there are about 10,000 pupils in 
on account of his zeal and services in parochial the Catholic schools. The diocese contains thirty- 
duties and his experience in diocesan affairs, gained two parochial schools for boys and the same num- 
in Portland. He was accordingly appointed by ber for girls ; there are five high schools for l)oys, 
I'ope Leo XIII and consecrated June 11, 1884. six academies for young ladies, one college and five 
Under his wise administration the cause of Catho- orphan asylums. The other Catholic institutions 
licit)- has prospered wonderfully in New Hamp- in the state include six convents of brothers, 
shire. He combines the rare (lualities of leader- twenty convents of sisters, three hospitals, four 
s 109 



}\'rT LEV'S nooK or xrTFn:i.n. 



lidiiK'S for am'd woim'n ,nul thriT honii's l(ir woik- 
ing girls, 'riicrc arc eighty Catholic priests in the 
state, fiftv churches with resident priests, si'\ en- 
teiMi missions connt'CtiMl with the church, two new 




In thi- spring ot iJ^S^ he nio\'.-d with his pari'iits 
to Windham and opcratt'd a sawmill and cider 
press for thirteen A'cars. The mill was on the 
turnpike near a placi' of historic interest known as 
tiie Bessells Camp. In the winter of 1S65 Mr. 
Seavcy, in partnership with John S. Brown and 
Nathaniel IT. Clark, erected a steam sawmill at 
Windham Junction, the first sawmill operated 1)\- 
steam in the town. The addition of cider presses 
and tanks complete'd the tomidation of an indListr\' 
lor Wintlham that has brought prosperity t(j the 
l)artners and materially enhanced the value of real 
estate in the \icinit\ and continues to encourage in- 
crease of |H)pulation. Ordinarih" tiom six to eight 



Sr. lOSKPH S CATHKDRAr. ^^■\NCHESTER. 

churches building, seyentcen chapels and twcnt\'- 
seven stations. It is doubtful if any other religious S 
ilenomination can show such a rajiiil growth within 
so short a time. 




GEORGE ED\V.\RD SE.WF.Y. 



GEORCtE EDWARD SEAVEV, the son of 
Benjamin and Sarah (Coburn) Scavey, was 
born in Pelham June 20, 1839, and from his ear- 
liest years has bein engaged in the operation 
of sawmills and cider presses. He parents had 
not the means of giying him any educational ad- men are empk)yed in the mill yard, but at times the 
vantages, but he early learned by experience the number is greatly increased. In the winter of 
principles of business and the yalue of money, juu"- 1893-94 hfty horses were required lor the trans- 
chasing his first jackknife with money earned in portation of lumber ; at present twenty-four are in 
saying the wages of an assistant about the mills, constant use. The chief articles of manufacture 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



are unplancd liox boards, the amount of lumber 
converted into l)oards averagin<r one million feet 
annually for the last ten years. In the cider mak- 
ing season two hvdraulic j)resses with a capacity of 
three hundred barrels in ten hours aie used, and 
one of the tanks contains one hundred and fifty 
and the other seventy-five barrels. About 95 per 
cent of the cider is sold to be manufactured into 
vinegar. Over four thousand barrels of cider are 
annually made at this mill in Windham, and a 
single vinegar firm has received $100,000 worth of 
cider from this mill in the past twenty years. 

Mr. Seavey was mariied Nov. 10, 1868, to 
Mary Ballou, daughter of Edward and Isabella 
(McGregor) Ballou of Derry, who was born Feb. 
7, 1842. Her ancestry is traced back through suc- 
cessive generations of the MacGregors to the first 
settlers of Londondenw and the traditions of the 
family extend to the old country, from wdiich in 
1719 these pioneers received letters of intelligence 
from their relatives in Armagh and Antrim, Ireland. 
Mr. Seavey was selectman of Windham from 1879 
to 1S81 inclusi\-c. In 1882 he re|)resented his 
town in the State Lemslature, and he has also 



served as supervisor for si.\ years, having been re- 
elected for the fourth term. 



SINCERITY was a striking characteristic of the 
men wdio settled Nutfield. They were called 
obstinate sometimes, and it was a Scotchman him- 
self who said : " It behooves a Scotchman to be 
right ; for if he be wrcjng, he be forever and eter- 
nally wrong." An anecdote is related of one of 
the descendants of the Nutfield Scotchmen which 
breathes the spirit of the first generation. He had 
been elected to the General Court from London- 
derry, and at the close of the session the friends of 
the presiding officer had prepared the usual com- 
])limentary resolution for him. The Londonderry 
member, it was well known, differed from that offi- 
cial in politics and religion, and even had doubts 
of his honesty. His friends, therefcne, dreading to 
encounter the public opposition of the outspoken 
■' gentleman from Londonderry," thought it pru- 
dent to shcnv him the resolutum in private, before 
it was offered. It was in the ordinary form, to 
in-esent "the thanks of the assembly to the presid- 
in"- officer for the dignitv, abilitv, and integrity 




GEORGE E. SEAVEY S RESIDENCE. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF Nl'TFIELD. 



with which he had dischartjcd his duties." The 
member frum Londonderry perused the paper 
deliberate!}', and then remarked : " There is but 
one word in the resolution that I object to ; just 
strike out the little word iiitccgrity, and I will vote 
for the rest cheerfully." It was thought best to 
expunge the obnoxious word, and so the resolution 
stands recorded to this day. 



WILLIAM G. BAKER, son of John and 
Lucy (Gay) Baker, was born on the En- 
glish Range, Derry, June 9, 1845. He is a descend- 
ant of Robert Baker, who came from England 
early in the settlement of this country and settled 
in Beverly, Mass. He received a common school 




Bromfield street. For the past few years he has 
been in the real estate business. He represented 
Ward 23, Boston (West Roxbury District), in the 
Legislature for two years, serving with much 
ability, and acting as clerk of the insurance com- 
mittee, clerk of the committee on public service, 
and as chairman of the committee on federal 
relations. His name has been often mentioned as 
candidate for state senator and also for alderman 
of the city, but on account of business interests he 
has refused to continue in political life. He is 
prominently identified with fraternal beneficiary 
societies, and is a member of the Royal Arcanum, 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and 
others. For about twenty years he has lived in 
that part of Ward 23, Boston, known as Egleston 
Square. He has three children : William W., 
Alice M., and Florence H. The son, William W., 



IS now 



in Harvard College. 



T^HE BEAR AND THE SAWMILL.— 

■1 There is an anecdote in connection with the 
two James Wilsons and the second sawmill locatetl 
upon the upper course of the Aiken brook, which 
may seem somewhat apocryphal, but is neverthe- 
less well vouched for. The Wilsons were accus- 
tomed to carry their dinners to the mill anil eat 
while sawing through a long log. One dav tiicv 
placed a long log on the carriage, set the saw in 
motion and sat down on the log with the dinner 
pail between them. Thus eating their dinner and 
moving from time to time in advance of the saw 
until it had passed the middle, they changed their 
places behind it, still riding on the moving carriage. 
Suddenly a liear appeared ujion the scene, and the 
men, having no firearms, hastily climbed over the 
low braces of the roof into safe places upon the 
tie beams. The bear came straight into the mill, 
climbed upon the log where the men had been 
sitting, and began eating the remnants of the din- 
ner, with his back to the saw. Presently the saw 
education and after a few terms at Pinkerton worked along the log until it nipped the short tip 
Academy completed his education by a course in a of the bear's tail. He gave an angry snarl and 
commercial college. When a young man he went hitched himself along a few inches, so intent upon 
to Boston, where he engaged in active business, his feast that he scarcelv minded the incident. A 
and for over twenty vears carried on a successful moment later the saw came up to him again, this 
business in upholstery and interior decorations on time catching and tearing a gash in his back instead 



WILLIAM G. BAKER. 



l\7L LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



of his tail. In f;;Tcat rage the bear turned around 
with his mt)Uth wide extended and both forepaws 
read\- to strike an enemy. Seeina; the movins; saw 
and associating; it with the eause ol his pain and 
misfortune, he attempted to bite it and at the same 
time ehisped it with his powerful paws. The result 
was such a deep cut in his forehead that he rolled 
off on the lloor and died in a few minutes. 



REV. ORRIN G. BAKER, youngest son of 
John and Lucy (Gay) Baker, was born on 
the Enuiish Range, Derry, Dec. 23, 1847. Having 
fitted for college at Pinkerton Acatlemv, he grad- 
uated from Dartmouth in 1874, and from Andover 
Theological Seminary in 1877. He taught school 




REV. ORRIN G. HAKER. 

a number of terms during his course of stuch'. 
After graduating from the Seminary, he was or- 
dained and installed over the Congregational 
Church at Jamaica, Vt., where he remained nearlv 
eight years and a half. He was then pastor 
two years at East Fairlield, \'t., and si.x years at 
West Charlestown, \T., and has just accepted a 
call to Ferrisburgh. \\. He has been verv suc- 
cessful in all the varieties of church work, especially 
in reaching and helping young people. He has 
always been interested in education, at times as 



superintendent of schools, and alwavs ready to 
help in every work for the welfare of the com- 
munity and town. Both as a man and for his 
work, he has been respected and loved bv the 
people. He married Alida M., daughter of Har- 
rison G. and Eliza (Hall) Barnes of Walpole, 
N. H. They have six children : Harrison Barnes, 
John William, Eliza Lucinda, Paul Gay, Stella 
Kellogg, and Edward Edmunds. 



A FEW RECORDS OF THE PROVINCE 

•'* touching the early settlers of Londonderry 
are given below. The first bears date June 26, 
1 7 1 8, and is an order of the Governor and Council : 

1. Whereas there are sundry familys of credit atid reputa- 
tion late arrived in this Government from Ireland, most of them 
being farmers, and disposed either to buy or rent lands, if to be 
had at reasonable terms w"'in this Province, 

Ordered, That publick notice be given throughout the 
Province, thereof, that any p'sons inclined either to lett or eell 
la;id, may have an opportunity so to do. 

Richard Waldron, Clcr. Con. 

SCHOOLS. 

2. December 23, 1727. In the House of Re[)resentativef. 
Ordered, Upon the motion of James McKeen, Esq.. and 

considering the Infancy of the Town of London Derry, Provided 
they keep two Schools for writing and reading in said Town, 
that they be exempted from the Penaltys in the I,aws of this 
Province relating to Grammar Schools, for one year now next 
ensuing, and to commence from their annual meeting in March 
next, and all courts that ha\ e authority in that affair are to take 
notice of this order and conform according to it. 

James Jefery, CIcr. Assni. 

In towns of one hundred families, the penaltv 
for not maintaining a grammar school in which 
Latin was taught was /^20 for six months' neglect. 

The reason that Mr. McKecn assigned for 
this motion was, that "the charge of the Grammar 
School will maintain Aw other Schools for reading 
and writing, which is much more beneficial to 
them ; few, if any of them, being able to give their 
children Grammar learning." 

linen manufactures. 

3. In the House of Representatives, May 7"', 1731. 
Whereas there are great frauds and deceit ]jracticed by 

])ersons travelling in this Province by selling of Foreign I, innens 
under pretence they were made at Londonderry, in this Province, 



14 



Wn, LET'S HOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



which tends to tlic 1 )aniaij;c of tliosc wlio really make and sell 
the Linen in Londonderry, &c., for prevention of which and for 
encotiraging the manufacturing Linen in said Town, 

V( /(•</, That an Act be drawn up authorizing the said Town 
to make choice of a suitable person to seal all such linen as shall 
be made in the said Town, and to have a Seal with the name of 
the Town engraved on it, and authority to such sealer (if suspect 
'twas not made in the Town) to administer an oath to the per- 
sons that bring linen to be sealed, that it was livtia fide made in 
said town. 



TJ ENRV GOODWIN, the second son of Josiah 
* ^ Goodwin, of whom mention is made elsc- 
wlure in this work, was horn in Londonderry, 
N. H., March 30, 1H35. Until twenty-four years 




HENRY GU(.)1)\V1N. 



of age he remained witli his i)arents on the farm. 
In 1859, after having served for a time on the 
school committee and having had some experience 
as a schoolteacher, he went to Boston and engaged 
in the newspaper business as a carrier. He fol- 
lowed this occui)ation for eight vears successfullv. 



when he sold his interest and formed a partnership 
which eventuated in the establishment of the 
Crawford House, Boston, where he has contin- 
uously served his jKitrons for nearly thirty years. 
In 1889 George II. Rimbach became a partner 
with Mr. Goodwin, and the firm has continued 
as Goodwin e^ Rimbach. In i860 he married 
Mary A. Moar of Londonderry, the ceremony 
being performed by the Rev. William House, then 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Their silver 
wedding was appropriately celebrated May 17, 
1885. Arthur Worthington, their only child, was 
born in 1865 and died in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. 
Goodwin arc members of the First Congregational 
Church, Charlcstown. He fully appreciates the 
advantages of a godly ancestry, the inheritance of 
a strong constitution, and the possible blessings 
which in after years may come to one who has 
toiled in the woods during the rigorous winter 
months, and in tiie rockv soil of Rockingham the 
rest of the vear, which vields such a reluctant 
recompense for the seed and service of the tiller. 
He has still a fondness for the home of his child- 
hood and a deep interest in all that pertains to the 
welfare and prosperitv of his native state and 
the goodh' town of Londonderrv. 



CI'IDEMIC DISEASES have been verv m- 
^ frequent in the healthful regions settled b\- 
the men of Nutfield. Onlv twice have serious 
epidemics raged. The first time was in 1 753, when 
a maladv much resembling the N'ellow fe\'er of 
later vears carried off manv oi the inhabitants, in- 
cluding some of the principal citizens. In 181 j 
the spotted fever caused manv deaths in the com- 
nnmitw Alexander Anderson, who li\ed in the 
West Parish, lost three children, David Anderson 
four, Robert Tavlor four, and William Thomp- 
son two. The sickness was so general that the 
physicians were unable to attend to all the 
cases, ant! doctors from abroad were emploved 
bv the town. Bleeding was the principal means 
of cure resorted to, and Christopher Thom, 
Abraham Morrison, and Joseph Gregg went 
from house to house with lancets. Many pa- 
tients recovered in" spite of the bleeding. 



HON. MOODY CURRIER. 



M 



BY HENRY M. BAKER. 

OODV CURRIER is emphatically a self- the spring: of 184 1 Mr. Currier went to Manches- 

made man. By his own industry and econ- ter and was admitted to the bar of Hillsborough 

,,m\- he raised himself from the country school to county. For several years he practised law with 

colleye honors, from poverty to wealth, from ob- success, occasionally writin.o- upon current and 

scuriU- to distmetion in business, i)olitics. and literary topics for newspapers and magazines. A 

letters, from a humble station to the highest office hnancial business 
of our state. Moody 
Currier was born in 



fe had 



nie 



Boscawen, N. H., 
A))ril 22, 1806. His 
earl \- y ears w e r e 
passed on a farm. 
There he became in- 
ured to work and 
K'arned that nothing 
of value is secured 
without toil. That 
is the secret of his 
successful life. Amitl 
the busv scenes of 
active farming he 
pursued the studies 
preparatorv to col- 
lege. He had no idle 
time — for him there 
were no leisure hours. 
Every moment was 
gi\'en to work t)r 
stud\-. He graduated 
with high honors 
from U a r t m o u t h 
College in 1834, de- 
livering the Greek 
oration. His alma. 




HON. MOODY CURRIER. 



manv allurements for 
him, and he aban- 
doned the law for 
finance. His distin- 
guished career in 
connection with the 
Amoskeag bank, the 
Amoskeag Savings 
bank, the Amoskeag 
National bank, and 
People's S a \' i n g s 
bank, is the historv 
of the great pros- 
perity of those sev- 
eral institutions. As 
a financier his repu- 
tatit)n is uneiiualK'd 
in New Hampshire. 
fie has been con- 
nected with many of 
the business enter- 
prises of his city and 
state, and has large 
interests in their 
manufactures and 
railroads. 

His fellow-citi/ens 
have bestowed upon 
him nearly all the 
prominent offices of 



mater and another 

college have conferred upon him the degree of the state. As senator, president of the senate, 

Doctor of Laws. After graduation Mr. Currier councillor, and governor, he not only justified the 

for several years was in charge of the Academy at expectations of his friends, but conferred honor 

Hopkinton, N. H., and later of the High School upon the st-ate. His administration as governor 

at Lowell, Mass. As a teacher he was thorough in 1885 and 1886 was so successful and dignified 

and successful. No subject was left unexhausted that it will long be remembered by the people with 

<ind l)v his own enthusiasm he aroused the zeal of gratitude and pride as a model of good govern- 

his i)upils. He devoted all his spare time to the ment. His state papers and public speeches de- 

-studvoflaw. In this manner, bv continuous ap- serve to rank as classics. For elegant expression, 

^)lieali(m, lie fitted himself for his profession. In polished .style and fitness for the occasion, his 

"5 



ii6 



WILLS T'S BOOK OF NCTFIELD. 



address accepting in behalf of the state the statue 
of Daniel Webster has never been excelled. His 
various proclamations, though without formalism 
or dogmatism, were religious in tone and moral in 
sentiment, and were expressed in language which 
is poetrv itself. A well-known writer has said : 
" His early culture, his poetic taste, his experience 
of life, the meditations of his mature vears, have 
enabled him to give to New Hampshire a series of 
official utterances of surprising appropriateness, 
beauty, and grace." 

Governor Currier is not only a distinguished 
classical scholar, but is learned in the literature 
and proficient in nianv of the languages of modern 
Europe. His translations are models of accuracy 
and beauty of expression. His pure English 
serves to express the finest thoughts of the most 
famous writers. Few living Americans, who have 
wiin eminent success in public life, possess such 
discriminating literary taste and talent as Governor 
Currier. His scientific studies, his researches into 
the history of ancient religions and modern theol- 
ogy, and the solution of manv of the deep problems 
of life, have led him to abandon nearlv all the 
mystical teachings which have perplexed humanity 
and shut the light of truth from human compre- 
hension. \'et his faith in a Supreme Being, who 
" is all in all," grows brighter as the years fade. 
This is illustrated b\' the following lines from one 
of his poems : 

Eternal in (rod has the universe stood ; 

Eternal the stars and the sun ; 
And the boundless regions of light and of space 

Are filled by the Infinite One. 

Eternal in him are the fountains of love : 
Nor has aught that exists e"er begun : 

Eternal is life, eternal is love : 
Eternal the Infinite One. 

Mr. Currier has expressed his idea of the 
presence of the Eternal so beautifully in one of 
his later poems, that it is here reproduced to illus- 
trate his poetic genius and religious feelings. 

THE ETERNAL ONE. 

<) tell me, man of sacred lore, 
Where dwells the Being you adore 1 



.•\nd where, O man of thought profound. 
Where can the Eternal (Jne be found ? 
Throughout the realms of boundless space 
We seek in vain His dw-ellinsr ijlace. 



He dwells where'er the beams of light 
Have pierced the ]3rimal gloom of night ; 
Beyond the planet's feeble ray ; 
Beyond the comet's devious way : 
Where'er amid the realms afar 
Shines light of sun or twinkling star. 
Above, below, and all around 
Th' encircling arms of God are found. 
Where'er the pulse of life may beat 
His forming hand and power we meet. 
While every living germ of earth 
That sinks in death or springs to birth 
Is but a part of that great whole 
Whose life is God, and God the soul. 
P'rom plant to man, below, above. 
The power divine still throbs in love. 



He is the life that glows and warms 

In tiniest mote of living forms. 

Which quick'ning nature brings to birth. 

To float in air or sink in earth. 

.\nd every shrub, and plant, and flower. 

That lives an age or blooms an hour. 

Has just as much of God within 

As human life or seraphim : 

For all that bloom and all that shine 

Are only forms of life divine. 

And every ray that streaks the east. 

And every beam that paints the west. 

With every trembling gleam of light, 

With every gloom that shades the night. 

Are but the trailing robes divine 

Of one whose garments ever shine. 

The human soul inay bend in love 
And seek for blessings from above. 
As well in busy haunts of men. 
In forest gloom, in silent glen. 
As in the altar's solemn shade. 
Beneath the domes that men have made 
As well may seek a Father's love. 
And ask assistance from above, 
Amid the ocean's solemn roar. 
Or on its barren waste of shore, 
As in some distant promised land, 
W'here sacred fanes and temples stand. 
The soul that beats in sweet attune 
Finds in himself the Eternal One : 
Nor needs to seek for other shrine 
Than God's great temples all di\ ine. 



INSCRIPTIONS IN THE HILL GRAVEYARD, LONDONDERRY. 



A RECENT visit to this ancient hurial ground 
resulted in deciphering the inscrijjtions on 
all the monuments nt)\v remaining visible, and for 
the benefit of posterity an alphabetical arrangement 
of the names of the dead is herewith presented, 
with the dates of decease and ages so far as given. 
Manv more stones without inscriptions are firml\' 
fixed at the heads of graves whose inmates are only 
to lie conjectured 
li\- the surround- 
ing m emori al s. 
Several hundred 
bodies ha\"c been 
interred, a small 
portion of these 
h a V e bee n r e - 
moved to other 
places of burial, 
and probablv the 
removal of more 
is anticipated, as 
the memorv of 
the worthy dead 
is being revived 
in more cons])ic- 
uous and abiding- 
entablatures b\' 
the present gen- 
eration. 



AlKEX, Manila (dan of 
William Aiken) died May 
4, 1/49, agsJ 14 ys ; Wil- 
liam died Oct 16, 1745, 
aged 54 yrs. 

Alexandkr, Agnes 
(dan of William and Kliza- 
Ijelli Alexander) died Jan 

10, 1771, ayed 15 mos; Agnes (wife of John Alexander) died Sept 4, 1769, 
a-ed 71 yrs ; John died Feb 14, 1771, aged 92 yrs ; John (son of William and 
Klizabcih Alexander) died May 3, 1784, aged 10 yis 5 mos 5 dys. 

AxDliRSON, Janet (wife of Robert Anderson) died Nov 15, 1777, aged 
Si yrs. 

lin.I., Elizabelh (wife of John IJell) died Aug 30, 1771, aged 82 yrs ; 
Ebenezer (son of John and Mary ,^nn Bell) died July 22, 1805, aged 20 yrs ; 
James (son of John and Mary Ann Bell) died March 31, 1787, aged 19 yrs 
5 mos 21 dys; Jane (dau of John and Mary Ann Bell) died Aug 11, 17S5, 
aged 13 yrs 3 mos 8 dys ; Jean (wife of Joseph Bell) died Nov 22, 1777, aged 
S2 yrs; John died July 8, 1743, aged 64 yrs ; Joseph died Oct 14, 1779, 
aged 83 yrs. 

Boyd, Alice (wife of William Boyd) died Nov 25, 1790, aged 60 yrs ; 

John (son of William Boyd) died Dec 28, 1764, aged 15 )r3; Letice (dan of 

William and Alice Boyd) died Aug 14, 1772, aged 15 yrs ; Robert (son of 

'J 




HOME OF MRS. MARY J. TENNEY, 
Silu.ited near llie Hill Graveyard 



\^ illiam and .Mice Boyd) died Jan g, 1777, aged 22 yrs; William died Nov 24, 
1 785. aged 70 yrs 3 mos. 

CaMI'IIELL, Jannet (wife of Henry Campbell) died Sept 2S, 177S, aged 
46 yrs. 

Cl.aui<, Eleanor (a child), no dates ; Esther (a child), no dales; Esther 
(a child), also no dales. 

Cu.mim;, Jean (a cliildl ; John died Oct 2, 1758, aged 61 yrs ; Mary (dau 
of John Craige) died Nov 25, 1760, aged 4 yrs ; Mary (wife of John Craige) 
died .\pril 27, 1753, aged 92 yrs ; Samuel (a child). 

DuKKV, Elias died Eeb 27, 1755, aged 57 yrs ; Elizabeth (Mrs) dieil 
Sept 21, 1748, ■ige<l 70 years; Joseph died Nov 26, 1745, aged 9 yrs; Martha 

(wife of .Samuel Dickey) 
died (_)cl 15, 1775, aged 
72 yrs ; .Maitha died aged 
3 niob ; Mary died aged 

3 weeks ; .Sarah died aged 
21 mos ; William ilied Oct 
9, 1743, aged 60 yrs. 

Dl'ncan, Hannah (wife 
of John Duncan) died Ian 
5, 1789, aged 50 yis ; John 
died Nov 15, 1799, aged 
70 yrs; Lelitia (wife of 
Deacon C^eoige Duncan) 
died May 5, 17C7, aged 52 
yrs; Naomi (w.fe of Wil- 
liam Duncan) died Sept i, 
1S07, agcil 88 yis ; Robert 
(son of John Duncan) died 
Feb 10, 1759, aged 26 yrs 

4 mos; .Samuel (son of 
Ueacon George and Leli- 
cia Duncan) died Nov 5, 
1753, aged 2 yrs ; William 
(son of Capt William and 
Xaomi Duncan) died 
March 29, 1793, aged 55 
yrs ; William died I*"eb 22, 
1795, aged 82 yrs 6 mos ; 
William died Oct 23, 1764, 
aged 20 yrs. 

Ela, Sarah (dau of 
David and Hannah Ela) 
died .Sept 29, 1778, aged 
17 mos 22 dys. 

FlNLAV, Jenet (wife of 
Joseph Finlay) died Dec 
23, 1768, aged 57 yrs. 

FlSHEU, Agnes (wife of 
Samuel Fisher 1 died March 12, 1755, aged 27 yrs; Elder Samuel died April 
10, 1S06, aged 84 yrs; Sarah (wife of F:ider Samuel Fisher) died Feb 3, 1813, 
aged 80 yrs; William (son of Elder Samuel l'i,her) died Oct 2'), 1775, aged 
14 )is. 

Hog, John died Aug 13, 1755, aged 23 yrs; Thomas died Jan 8, 1748, 
aged 42 yrs 

HoGi;, Mary (wife of Thomas llogg) died May I, 1790, aged 24 years. 
Mack, John died April 12, 1753, aged 55 yrs. 
Mc.\i.l.ESTi;u, William died March 10, 1755, aged 55 yrs. 
MiCi.EAKV, Cajn David (son of 'rhomas and Elizabelh McCleary) died 
at Bennington Aug lO, 1777, aged 31 yrs ; Elizabeth (dau of Thomas and 
Elizabelh McCleary) died Oct 15, 17S2, aged 30 yrs ; John (son ol Thomas 
and Elizabelh McCleary) died Sept 3, 1751, aged 3 yrs; Mary (dau of 
Thomas and Elizabeth McCleary) died Apiil 7, 1778, aged 21 yrs ; 'rhoinas 
died Oct 5, 1787, aged 81 yrs. 



GEN. STARK S CSRANIJDAUGHTER. 
Londonderry. — Winter scene. 



JI7 



ii8 



WILLE7"S BOOK OF NITTFIELD. 



McClenche, Elizabeth (dau of John and Martha) died Nuv 12, 17S8, 
aged 20 yrs ; John died March 24, 1S20, aged 76 yrs ; Martha (dau of John 
and Martha McClenche) died May 20, 17S7, aged 20 yrs ; Martha (wife of 
John McClenche) died July 27, 1801, aged 69 yrs. 

McCoLOM, Alexander died July 4, 17S1, aged 79 yrs ; Archibald died 
Af^ril 10, 1761, aged 23 yrs ; Janet (wife of Alexander McColom) died Oct II, 
1773, aged 6g yrs; Jannet, died Aug 27, 1 744, aged 12 yrs ; Martha (wife of 
Lieut Robert McColoni) died Sept 15, 1S22, aged 74 yrs; Lieut Robert died 
June 13, 1792, aged 56 yrs ; William died Sept 17, 1794, aged 23 yrs. 

McGregor, Alexander, died June 27, 1S04, aged 37 yrs; John V. died 
Sept 27, i8ig, aged 22 yrs; Mary (wife of Alexander McGregor) died May 
24, 1799, aged 31 yrs. 

Messer, Cyrus died April 2, 1837, aged 65 yrs; Mary (wife of Cyrus 
Messer) died June 18, 1866, aged 92 yrs 9 nios; Moses W. died March 10, 
1 814, aged 18 yrs. 

Mitchell, Watt (son of Francis and Margaret Mitchell) died Sept 24, 
'775' iged 10 mos. 

Moore, Elizabeth (dau of Capt William and Martha Moore) died March 
6, 1775, aged 3 weeks ; Sibbil (dau of Capt William and Martha Moore) died 
Aug 15, 1776, aged 9 mos; Hugh (son of Capt William and Martha Moore) 
died March 16, 1775, aged 6 yrs. 

Oughterson, James died March 3, 1 761, aged 64 yrs. 

Patterson, Elizabeth (wife of Peter Patterson) died June 22, 1786, 
aged 23 yrs. 

PiNKERTON, Elizabeth (dau of Major John and Rachel Pinkerton) died 
March 18, 1789, aged 17 yrs 6 mos 17 dys ; David died March 8, iSoS, aged 
75 y^ ; John {son of Major John and Rachel Pinkerton) died June 4, 1795, 
aged 17 yrs 7 mos 22 dys ; John died Feb 10, 1780, aged 80 yrs; Major John 
died May I, 1S16, aged 81 yrs ; Mary (wife of Major John Pinkerton) died 
Feb Ig, 1844, aged 94 yrs ; Rachel (wife of Major John Pinkerton) died Sept 
13, 1781, aged 36 yrs 3 mos 2 dys ; Rachel (dau of John and Mary Pinkerton) 
died Nov 17, 1796, aged 47 yrs ; Mary (dau of John and Mary Pinkerton) 
died .Sept 23, 1807, aged 67 yrs ; Samuel (son of John and Mary Pinkerton) 
died March 16, 1780, aged 34 yrs ; Mary (wife of John Pinkerton) died Sept 
10, 1754, aged 44 yrs; Naomi (ilau of Major John and Rachel Pinkerton) died 
May 4, 1790, aged 20 yrs 3 mos 22 dys. 

ScoiitY, Martha, died Oct 6, 1754, aged 30 yrs ; Matthew died July 2, 
1764, aged 31 yrs ; Samuel died Jan 20, 1737, aged 3 yrs. 

.Smith, Jane (wife of John Smith and dau of Thomas and Elizabeth 
McCleary) died March 5, 1779, aged 29 yrs. 

Taggart, James (son of James and Jean Taggart) died May 25, 1752, 
aged 8 yrs ; Jean (wife of James Taggart) died March 6, 1770, aged 60 yrs ; 
Sarah, a child ; Rose (wife of Niel Taggart) died June 15, 1748, aged 48 yrs. 

Thompson, Molly (dau of John and Martha Thompson) died June 9, 
1778, aged 2 yrs; Sarah (dau of Robert and Margaret Thompson) died Nov 
18, 1776, aged I yr. 

Wallace, Ann (a child) no dales ; Barbara (wife of Thomas Wallace) 
died Sept 2, 1771, aged 95 yrs ; Annas (wife of John Wallace) died Jan 6, 
1761, aged 63 yrs ; Ann died Aug 23, 1733, aged 20 yrs ; James died Oct 30, 
'79'> aged So yrs ; James (a child) no dates ; Elizabeth (a child) no dates ; 
Capt James died Dec 14, 1792, aged 71 yrs: John (son of James and Mary 
Wallace) died Nov :5, 1754, aged 10 dys; John (husband of Annas Wal- 
lace) died March 29, 1777, aged 82 yrs; (The stone bears the legend that John 
and Annas Wallace were the first couple married in Londonderry, May 18, 
1721.) Mary (dau of James and Mary Wallace) died Oct 10, 1760, aged 8 yrs ; 
Naomi (wife of Capt Rol ert Wallace) died May 10. 179I, aged 80 yrs; 
Capt Robert Wallace died Oct 10, 1782, aged 73 yrs; Thomas (husband of 
Barbara Wallnce) died Aug 22, 1754, aged 82 yrs ; William, M. A. (son of 
Ihomas and Barbara Wallace) died March 27, 1733, aged 26 yrs (see cut on 
page 33) ; Thomas died May 7, 1789, aged 73 yrs ; Thomas (son of John and 
Annas Wallace) died Sept 22, 1734, aged 4 yrs I mo 12 dys ; Mrs Rebecca 
died Sept 22, 1804, aged 8l yrs ; Thomas died Jan 26, 1790, aged 46 yrs ; 
his wife died April 4, 1785, aged 31 yrs; .Samuel died July 2g, 1778, 
aged 41 yrs ; William (a child) no dates. 

Waits, Peggy (wife of Moses Walls) died May 3, 1795, aged 64 yrs. 

Wiear, David (son of Adam and Margaret Wiear) died Feb 15, 1765, 
*ged 25 yrs. 



Wilson, Joseph ; Rebecca (wife of Joseph Wilson) died May 25, 1770, 
aged 66 yrs. 

W^OODIiURN, David died Oct 9, 1S23, aged 85 yrs ; Margaret (wife of 
David Woodburn) died Oct 17, 1792, aged 39 yrs. 

The complete inscription on the monument 
of Major John Pinkerton is appended as a tribute 
to the memory of his fjenerosity and a reminder 
of the locality where his dust reposes : 

In memory of John Pinkerton, Esq., who died May i. 1816, 
aged 81 years. He was born in the county of Antrim, North of 
Ireland, and came with his parents when a child to this country. 
He was a man of strict integrity, active benevolence and ex- 
emplary piety. For many years he was a useful member and 
officer of the Church of Christ and a distinguished benefactor of 
the town. By prudence and industry he acquired an ample for- 
tune which he chiefly devoted to objects of public utility. He 
was the principal founder of the Pinkerton Academy in London- 
derry, and endowed each of the two religious societies in the 
place with a fund for the su])port of the (rospel Ministry. 

The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 

Also in memory of Mrs. Rachel, first wife of John Pinkerton. 
Esq., who died Sept. 13, 1781, aged 36 years. 

Note. — The income of the Pinkerton fund given to the 
West Parish is to be appropriated to the sole purpose of sup- 
porting an orthodo.x Presbyterian ininister of the Gospel in said 
parish agreeable to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States. 



THE MAMMOTH ROAD, so named in deri- 
sion by those who opposed its construction, 
was built in the summer of 1831, and at once 
became a p()|)ular route between Concord and 
Boston. Large numbers of passengers were 
carried by the three lines of daily stages that 
travelled over the road, and the other traffic was 
also heavy. Great quantities of country produce 
were taken to Lowell and Boston over the 
Mammoth road, and the highway continued to 
be thronged with vehicles until the opening of the 
Concord & Nashua railroad in 1838. In 1832, 
the year after the Mammoth road was built, 
President Jackson and his cabinet passed over it 
on their w^ay from Boston to Concord, and dined 
at White's hotel in the northern part of Lon- 
donderry, 



HON. WILLIAM C. CLARKE, 



HON. WILLIAM COGSWELL CLARKE, life. At the academy and in colletre lie was prom- 
youngest son of Col. John B. and Susan inent in athletics, serving for two years as captain 
(Moulton) Clarke, was born in Manchester March of the Dartmouth ball team and holding the cham- 
17, 1856. Excepting the late e.\-Gov. Weston, he pionship of the ball throwing contest, with a 
is the only native of Manchester who was ever record of 358 feet 11 inches. He was also winner 
elected mayor of the city. He was chosen to that of other athletic contests, including the 100-yard 



office in 1894 by the 
largest vote ever 
given to a Republi- 
can candidate in the 
citv and by a major- 
ity of 913, the caucus 
which nominated 
him having been the 
hu'gcst ever held in 
the state to name a 
mayoralty candidate. 
After graduating 
from the Manchester 
hi<rh school and tak- 
i n g a jireparatory 
course at Phillips 
Andover Academy, 
Mr. Clarke entered 
Dartmouth and was 
graduated in 1876, 
taking the first prize 
in the college com- 
petitive elocutionary 
contest in his senior 
year. Having served 
a two years' appren- 
ticeship in the late 
Col. Clarke's print- 
ing establishment, he 
began r e p o r t o r i a 1 




HON. WILLIAM COGSWELL CLARKE. 



dash and hurdle 
race. Manchester 
people well remem- 
ber him as foremost 
in the early history 
of professional base- 
ball and as captain of 
one of the strongest 
local teams which 
represented New 
Hampshire. After 
so much active work 
on the diamond Mr. 
Clarke naturally be- 
came the efficient 
baseball editor of The 
Mirror. He is one 
of the best wing 
shots in the state, 
1 ) a g g i n g probably 
more birds annually 
than any other man. 
He is the owner of 
the famous pointer 
Prince, who at ten 
years of age has had 
shot over him 2340 
woodcock, quail, and 
partridge. Mr. Clarke 
was one of the ora^an- 



work on The Mirror, soon becoming city editor izers and hrst president of the Hillsborough County 

and filling that position for eight years. Later he Fish and Game Protective Association ; for three 

assumed charge of special departments of the years secretary of the New Hampshire Road and 

Daily Mirror and Weekly Mirror and Farmer, and Trotting Horse Breeders' Association ; for a long 

as editor of the horse department won for himself time secretary of the Manchester Driving Park 

and those papers a national reputation among Company and one of its directors ; is new vice 

hursemen. Over the nom de plume of "Joe president of the New England Trotting Horse 

English " he made the sporting department of the Breeders' Association, of the American League, 

same papers widely known. His capacity for and of the New England Agricultural Society, 

leadership in legitimate sports was marked early in He was a member of the school board for seven 

119 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



years and of the legislature for two years. In the ter. Their children are: John Badger, aged 15, 
latter bodv he was chairman of the committee on and Mitty Tewksburv, aged 14. Both Mr. and 
fisheries and game. His administration as mayor Mrs. Clarke are social leaders in Manchester, and 
has been marked by his characteristic energy, the are attendants at the Franklin-Street Congrega- 
building of new schoolhouses, and the remodelling tional Church. He is a member of the Young 

Men's Christian Association, of the Derryfield, 

Calumet, and Press Clubs, the Board of Trade, tlie 
Gymnasium, Amoskeag Grange, and president of 
the Elliot Hospital board of trustees and of the 
board of water commissioners. His friends be- 
lieve that a political career which has begun so 
ausjiiciously as Mayor Clarke's must necessarily go 
on to still more brilliant achieyements. 



HORSES and other domestic animals were com- 
mon in Nutlk'ld from the hrst settlement. 
During the first year Abel Merrill was paid t\vcl\e 
shillings by the town for horse hire, and James 
Nesmith receiyed eight shillings for the same rea- 
son. The selectmen frequently needed a horse to 
driye to Portsmouth with salmon and cloth for tiie 
state officials, and also, as the records state, in 
"going down for the elements of the Sacrament." 
Many of the people must hayc required the ser- 
vices of horses in going to church, on account of 
the long distances to be travelled. Deacon James 
Reid, father of General George Reid, lived in 
Kilrea, in the extreme southern part of Dcrr\', hut 
he always attended the West Parish church. The 
McClary family lived in the western part of Lcjn- 
donderry, near the present site of the Baptist 
church, and thev were prominent members of the 
East Parish. It is not known at just what time 
oxen came into general use for farm work, but 
there were plenty of cows as early as March, 1722, 
when it was voted in town meeting " that all per- 
sons shall have liberty to bring in cattle to the 
town, so as to make up the number of six, and no 
more, and those that have cattle of their own have 
the liberty to bring the number of ten if they bring 
a liuU with them, otherwise to bring in no more." 
In the same year hogs had become so plenty and 
so troublesome, being allowed to run at large, that 
a by-law was passed compelling their owners to 
yoke them between the 20th of March and the last 
of October. No one was so poor that he could 
not keep a few sheep and some poultry. 




CrVV HAI.I., MANCHESTER. 



of the old city hall into an architectural ornament 
to the city being but two of the many signs of 
new municipal life under his guidance. Mr. 
Clarke married Miss Mary O. Tewksbury, daugh- 
ter of the late E. Greene Tewksbury of Manches- 



HON. CHARLES H. BARTLETT. 



HON. CHARLES HENRY BARTLETT for the New Hampshire district, which office be 

was born in Sunapce, Oct. 15, 1833, the held until 1883, when he resigned to accept a seat 

fourth son of John and Sarah J. (Sanborn) Bartlctt. in the state senate to which he had been elected 

He is a lineal descendant in the eighth generation by an unprecedented majority. He was clerk of 

of Richard Bartlctt, who came from England to the senate from 1861 to 1864, and private secretary 

Newbury, Mass., in the ship Mary and Joiin in to Governor Smyth in 1865-66. In 1872 he was 



1634. Mr. Bartlett's 
early life was mainly 
spent on his father's 
faini. working in the 
summer season and 
attending school in 
winter. He early 
ilcvcloi)ed a decided 
taste for literarv ])ur- 
suits, and from child- 
hood devoted a lib- 
eral share of his leis- 
ure moments to the 
perusal of such books 
as were accessible. 
He also contributed 
to the current litera- 
ture of the dav and 
showed remarkable 
facilitv in both piose 
and poetic composi- 
tion. After attend- 
ing the academies at 
\V a s h i n g t o n a n d 
New London, he be- 
gan the study of law 
in the office of Met- 
calf iS: Barton at 
Newport, studying 
subsequently w i t h 



elected mayor of 
Manchester, but re- 
signed before the 
expiration of his 
term on account of 
the federal office he 
held. His last offi- 
cial act was to turn 
over his salary to 
the I-^iremcn's Relief 
Association. In 18S1 
Dartmouth College 
conferretl ujion hii":i 
the degree of Master 
of Arts. Upon the 
assembling of t li e 
senate of 1883 he 
was u n a n i m o u si v 
chosen by his party 
associates as their 
candidate for t li e 
presi de n c v of that 
body, which olfice 
he held during his 
term of service. He 
was a member of the 
constitutional con- 
ventions of 1876 and 
1889. Mr. Bartlctt 
married, Dec. 8, 1858, 
with Morrison Miss Plannah M. Eastman of Crovdon, by whom 




HON. CHARLES HENRY BARTLETT. 



George & Foster at Concord anc 

cSc Stanley at Manchester, being admitted to the he had one son, Charles Leslie, who died at the 

Hillsborough County bar in 1858. In that year age of four years, and one daughter, Clara Bell, 

he began the practice of his profession at Went- Mrs. Bartlctt died July 25, 1890. Mr. Bartlctt might 

worth, and in 1863 removed to Manchester, where easily have attained the highest honors within the 

he has since resided. For about two vears he was gift of his jiarty and state, but he has persistently 

the partner ni the late Hon. James U. Parker, the declined all overtures for political or official pre- 

partnership terminating with the retirement of the ferment. His recent orations have been widely 

latter from active business. In 1867 he was read and brought him great fame as a most elo- 

appointed clerk of the United States district court quent and accomplished orator, 



HON. EDGAR J. KNOWLTON. 



HON. EDGAR JAV KNOWLTON, success- his election as mayor in 1890, when he received 
ful as newspaper man, as leitrislator, as 1460 of the 151 7 votes cast in the Democratic 
mayor and as postmaster of Manchester, was nominatino; caucus, and carried the city by a plu- 
born in Sutton Aug. 8, 1856, the son of James raHty of 132 votes over Thomas W. Lane, admit- 
and Mary F. (Marshall) Knowlton. Being tedly the most popular Republican in Manchester 
the eldest of eight children of a family in at the time — and this too when the Republicans 

carried the city by 
over 600 plurality 
for their gubernato- 
rial candidate. Mr. 
Knowlton was the 
first mavor to devote 
his whole time to the 
duties of the position, 
and so heartv was 
the commendation 
of his administration 
felt throughout the 
city that at the suc- 
ceeding m u n i c i p a 1 
election, although 
the Republicans 
swept the city by a 
large majority for 
every office save that 
of mayor, he was re- 
elected over the Re- 
publican nominee by- 
a majority of 1386, 
the largest ever given 
to any mayoralty can- 
didate. His second 
administration was 
as brilliant as his first. 
He was instrumental 
in the accomplish- 

position on the Daily Mirror and American. Here ment of reforms and enterprises which a less 
he remained until 1884, when he again became energetic man would take a lifetime in bringing 
city editor of the Union, resigning in February, about. He was the first of Manchester's mayors 
1890, to accept the office of secretary of the newly to advocate the high service water supply, and 
organized Manchester Board of Trade. His popu- under his administration this was realized at an 
larity in Manchester was emphatically shown by expenditure of $250,000. Its necessity was evident 
his election on the Democratic ticket to the state in the winter of 1894-5. when but for the high 
legislature in 1886, when he received a majority of pressure service the city would have experienced 
seventy-six votes in a ward ordinarily Republican all the hardships of a water famine. A war loan 
by 200. Still more emphatically was it shown by of $120,000, which had been bearing six per cent 



moderate circum- 
stances, he enjoyed 
but limited educa- 
tional opportunities, 
and at the age of six- 
teen went to Man- 
chester to seek his 
fortune. For two 
years he worked as 
apprentice in the 
printing office of the 
Manchester Union, 
becoming then a re- 
porter and subse- 
quently city editor of 
the paper. He re- 
mained in this posi- 
tion until 1880, when 
he went to Lockport, 
N. Y., and took edi- 
torial charge of the 
Daily Union of that 
place, conducting the 
journal with marked 
success until his re- 
turn to Manchester, 
in January, 1881, to 
accept a fiattering 
offer from Col. John 
B. Clarke to take a 




HON. EDGAR JAV KNOWLTON. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



123 




i 



interest for thirty years, was paid off duriny- his 
administration, although prior to his election no 
provision had been made for this. He also secured 
the adoption of the beneficent plan of a sinking fund 
to liquidate obligations at their maturity; did away 
with the discount on taxes, thereby making a large 

saving to the city ; se- 
cured a revenue to the 
city treasurv in return for 
^gHK|^ city deposits ; abrogated 

' '^W^ ^ ;^n electric light contract 

" which was disastrous to 

the city, and executed a 
new one which saved $22 
per light per annum ; in- 
augurated an annual ex- 
penditure for the devel- 
opment of Stark and 
Derryfield parks ; erected 
the Hallsville, Rimmon, 

BESSIE GENEVIEVE KNOWI.TON. i t-. l ^ ^ i l 

and Pearl street school- 
houses, and built large additions to several other 
schoolhouses ; built the ward five wardroom, the 
Second-street steel and stone bridge, and the 
South Main street stone bridge, the Walter M. 
Fulton engine house, the South Manchester hose- 
house, and strengthened 
the fire department in 
various ways. But space 
will not permit even the 
enumeration of all the 
enterprises and reforms 
in which Mayor Knowl- 
ton tofjk the initiative. 
Suffice to say that a new 
era in the municipal life 
of Manchester was fairly 
begun with his adminis- 
tration. On May 11, 
1894, having resigned the 
office of mayor on the 
preceding day, he took possession of the Man- 
chester postoffice, and his time has since been de- 
voted not only to maintaining the office at its high 
standard of efficiency, but to the inauguration of 
numerous reforms which have been particularly 
pleasing to the public. Mr. Knowlton is a mem- 
ber of the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order 



■ ••■ >> 




of United Workmen, the Improved Order of Red 
Men, the Patrons of Husbandry, and various other 
organizations. He was married, Nov. 2, 1880, to 
Miss Genevieve I. Blanchard of Nicholville, N. Y., 
and has two daughters: Bessie Genevieve, born 
April 2, 1885, and Belle Frances, born Oct. 3, 1887. 



BELLE FRANCES KNOWLTON. 



T^IIE FOUNDERS OF LONDONDERRY, 
1 remarkable themselves for thrift and energy, 
were not slow in transplanting their young and 
vigorous saplings to the fertile and promising soil 
of adjoining counties and states, as subsequent 
years have shown stalwart trees and powerful in- 
fluences for good, matured from developed saplings 
of the Scotch-Irish stock thus sent out. 

Perhaps no more valuable illustration of the 
vitality and true worth of such transplanted stock 
has been found than in a sketch of the life of Rev. 
Charles E. Brown, a lineal descendant of the early 
Dickey importation from the north of Ireland. 
His mother was Betsey Dickey, whose father, 
Joseph Dickev, settled early in Weathersfield, Yt. 
Betsey married a Baptist minister, Rev. Philip 
Perry Brown, and Charles E. was a son born Feb. 
23, 1813. Probably from an inherited disposition 
and an anxious desire to do good, he early entered 
the ministry and after spending a few years in 
New York state, in his chosen profession, he asked 
to be sent by the Baptist Missionary Society to 
the territory of Iowa. 'Hiis was in 1841, and he 
thus enjoys the distinctiim of being the pioneer 
Baptist minister in the now great state of Iowa, 
and with the help of his noble young wife, Frances 
Lyon, he was largely instrumental in laying broad 
and deep in Iowa and the new country west of the 
Mississippi river the foundation of one of the 
great branches of the Christian Church, and now, 
in the sunset of life, at eighty-three years of age, he 
is waiting, with a cheerful heart and sunny smile, 
for the boatman to ferry him over the river. He 
is living with his son, Mr. W. C. Brown of St. 
Joseph, Mo., who is one of the most prominent 
and capable railroad managers in the West, an d 
who, with his excellent companion, spares no pains 
to make bright and pleasant the pathway of his 
honored sire adown the hill of life. 



MANCHESTER BOARD OF TRADE 



IN the 6o's Manchester had a board of trade. It Grenier, Ch^rence M. Edgerlv, and R. D. W. 
held meetings for several years, was incor- McKav. The preliminary meeting was largely 
porated Jul}* 14, 1877, and occupied for a time attended. Hon. George B. Chandler was chosen 

chairman, and C M. Edgerlv secretarv. Enthusi- 
astic remarks in favor of a live board of trade were 
made bv Mr. Chandler, Hon. Charles H. Bartlett, 
Col. John B. Clarke, Hon. Uavid Cross, George 
A. Leighton, John C. French, Hon. P. C. Cheney, 
Col. B. C. Dean, Hon. James F. Briggs, and others. 
A second meeting was held Feb. 5, when a com- 
mittee, of which James F. Briggs was chairman, 
reported a constitution and by-laws, which were 
adopted. A committee to nominate officers re- 
ported the following list, which was elected : 
President, George B. Chandler ; vice presidents, 
Herman F. Straw, P. C. Cheney; treasurer, Henrv 
Chandler; secretary, Edgar J. Knowlton ; direc- 





CHARLES C. HAYES. 

headijuarters in Riddle block. Hon. Daniel Clark 
was president and Hon. H. K. Slayton, secretary. 
After accomplishing some good in the way of 
securing lower rates on coal freighted from the 
seaboard, and in some other ilirections, the or- 
ganization declined. A balance of $142 in its 
treasury was, by unanimous vote of surviving mem- 
bers, turned over to the present board of trade on 
Sept. 16, 1893. 

In 1890 the need of a business organization 
resulted in a call for a public meeting to be held in 
City Hall Jan. 22, " for the purpose of organizing 
an association designed to aid and encourage new 
industries antl the commercial interests of the city 

of Manchester." The call was signed by George tors, G. B. Chandler, Frank Dowst, John B. 
B. Chandler, Hiram D. Upton, John C. French, Varick, H. D. Upton, John C. French, Andrew 
Charles T. Means, George A. Leighton. William Bunton, Frank M. Gerrish, E. M. Slayton, and 
Corey, Alonzo Elliott. Frank P. Kimball, A. G. Frank P. Carpenter. Over sixty business men 

124 



HERBERT W. EASTMAN. 



IVILLE7"S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



I2S 



signed the constitution at the first meeting. The 
board was particuhirly fortunate in the selection of 
its first officers. Hon. George B. Chandler was an 
enthusiastic believ^er in the advantages to be de- 
rived from a live organization of business men. 
He was possessed of a strong faith in the future 
of Manchester. He made an ideal presiding offi- 
cer, drew into his directory some able associates, 
and the new organization at once sprang into pop- 
ularity and immediately became a power for good 
in the Oueen City. The chief object of the board, 
as defined in the constitution, is to " promote the 
prosperity of the Queen City of New Hampshire," 
or in other words, " to secure a union of the ener- 
gies, influence, and action of citizens in all matters 
pertaining to the welfare of the city of Manches- 
ter ; to encourage all legitimate business enter- 
prises ; to collect and disseminate through the press 
and otherwise information respecting Manchester 
as a manufacturing city and a place of residence." 
Anv person a resident of or having a place of 
business or owning real estate in Manchester may 
become a member. The board has standing com- 
mittees on finance, manufacturing and mercantile 
affairs, municipal affairs, insurance, railroads and 
transportation, statistics, and new industries and 
enterprises. 

As the first secretary, Edorar T. Knowlton 
began the work with a zeal which characterizes all 
his endeavors. He was an old newspaper worker, 
thoroughly acquainted with the citizens and the 
needs of the city. The membership the first year 
was brought up to 275, and by the concerted 
efforts of the officers, much good was accom- 
plished. The advantages of the city were dis- 
played through industrial and other papers and by 
the publication of 5,000 copies of a handy little 
volume entitled "Statistics of the Queen City." 
.The board collected and published information 
concerning the wholesale and retail trade of the 
city ; it took an active part in securing lanil for 
Stark park, and in the effort to get an equestrian 
statue of Gen. John Stark; it established mer- 
chants' weeks ; it has encouraged people to pa- 
tronize home industries; it distributed 25,000 letter 
sliL'ets containing valuable facts about the city ; it 
has advocated the establishment of a new county 
with Manchester as its centre; it secured a postal 



route between Manchester and North Weare ; it 
procured an earlier mail delivery in the city; it in- 
sured the doubling of capacity of the East Man- 
chester shoeshop ; it created the West Side com- 
pany, capital $35,000, which built a brick shoeshop 
200x45, occupied by Crafts & Green, who em- 
ploy over 300 hands. 

The board of trade, in its early existence, agi- 
tated the relaying of rails from North Weare to 
Henniker, which after long legal complications, 
was finally brought about in 1893. The board has 
continually urged the need of a first class electric 
railway system in the city. During the session of 
the legislature of 1895, the board took active 
preparations to secure a charter for an electric 
railway, but the present management expressly 
pledging the installation of a first class system im- 
mediately, the proposed charter was not obtained. 
As a result of this movement, Manchester is now 
supplied with as good an electric street railway 
system as is in operation in the entire country. 
The board of trade has also been especially active 
in the endeavor to secure a charter for a railroad 
from Milford to Manchester. 

Through the efforts of the board, directly or 
indirectly, numerous successful industries have 
been added to the city. The one single shoeshop 
fostered by the board has grown to seven large 
shops, employing at least 2,000 hands and turning 
out over 10,000 pairs of shoes every day, and dis- 
tributing nearly a million dollars yearly in wages. 

The Manchester board of trade was the first 
in New England to establish a merchants' week. 
As a result, the retail trade is greatly stimulated 
each October, and thousands of people from all 
over the state, and even beyond New Hamjishire, 
have become acquainted with the enterprise of our 
live business men. During the merchants' week 
of 1894 nearly 13,000 people came to Manchester 
on round trip tickets. 

Secretary Knowlton, who iiad been elected 
mayor of the city, resigned his position with the 
board in May, 1891, and the directors unanimously 
elected Herbert W. Eastman his successor, who 
has been re-elected by each board of directt)rs 
since. After serving two years, the first board of 
officers was succeeded by Edward M. Slayton as 
president ; Henry E. Burnham and Charles D. 



126 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



McDuffie, vice presidents; and E. M. Slayton, 
James W. Hill, Henry B. P^iirhanks, Charles M. 
Floyd, Frank W. Fitts, Horace Marshall, Charles 
C. Hayes, L. H. Josselyn, and Denis A. Holland, 
directors. Treasurer Henry Chandler has been 
continually re-elected. At the annual meeting in 
Januarv, 1894, the following oflicers were elected: 
President, Charles C. Hayes; vice presidents, 
H. E. Burnham, James W. Hill ; directors, C. C. 
Hayes, William Marcotte, Fred B. Ellis, O. D. 
Kno.x, James P. Slattery, Charles E. Co.v, Walter 
G. Africa, Edward F. Schcer, and Charles F. 
Green. 

The headquarters of the hoard were first in 
the rear of A. J. Lane's real estate office in City 
Hall building. Meetings of the board were held 
in City Hall. The need of larger and better quar- 
ters was apparent, and in September, 1891, two 
large rooms in Merchants Exchange were secured, 
where the office of the secretary was established 
and meetings of the board were held. In Mav, 
1894, headquarters were obtained on the sixth 
fioor of the magnificent Kennard building, the 
finest business block north of Boston. A large 
room seating one hundred is handsomely fu'/nished 
with tables, chairs, desks, and pictures, and several 
desks are rented to business men who only need 
desk room. Sliding doors open into a carpeted 
and finely furnished room for the use of directors, 
committees, etc. The headquarters are supplied 
with telephone, writing materials, daily, weekly, 
and trade papers, stock reports, etc., and are open 
to members and the public every day and three 
evenings each week. The board has a membership 
of over three hundred, comprising nearly every 
prominent business concern in the city. Secretary 
Eastman i)ul)lishes quarterly the Board of Trade 
Journal, which has a large circulation and is hantl- 
somelv jirinted and illustrated. The Manchester 
board is connected with the New Hampshire 
Board of Trade, of which Mr. Eastman is secretary 
and treasurer. 

Charles C. Hayes, president of the board and 
one of the most acti\ e and successful young busi- 
ness men in the city, was born in New London, 
N. H., May 31, 1855. He is the son of John M. 
and Susan E. (Carr) Hayes, both of whom were 
natives of that town, his father iuuing been a 



merchant in New London and Salisbury for many 
years and a jirominent citizen and a real estate 
owner in Manchester. Mr. Haves received his 
early education in the common schools of his 
native town and of Salisbury, and upon coming to 
Manchester, in 1869, attended the high school, 
graduating in 1875. After three years of mercan- 
tile experience he bought the store of the Co- 
operative Trade Association, which he conducted 
successfully for several } ears. In 1882 he began a 
general real estate, mortgage, loan, and fire insur- 
ance business, which has grown and prospered and 
which he has managed ever since. He is regarded 
as one of the best judges of real estate values in 
the city, and he is often called ujion to appraise 
pro|)ert\- of that kind. He does an extensive busi- 
ness hi buying and selling real estate and has 
assisted greatly in the development of suburban 
real estate. His business connections are numer- 
ous. He is vice president and director of the New 
Hami)shne Trust Company, president of the 
Thomas A. Lane Company, president of the 
Oiange Mica Mining Company, treasurer and 
director of the Kennedy Land Company, treasurer 
and director of the Rinimon Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and clerk of the Manchester Shoe Manufac- 
turing Company. He was a director of the board of 
trade in 1892, vice president in 1893, and was 
unanimously elected its president in 1894, and 
re-elected in 1895. Under his management the 
board has grown rapidly in membership and in- 
fluence, ranking today as one of the largest and 
most nourishing business .organizations in New 
England. • He is also president'of the Manchester 
Fire Underwriters' Association. In Masonry Mr. 
Hayes has an honorable and exalted record. He 
is Past Worshipful Master of Washington Lodge, 
A. F. and A. M., member of Mt. Horeb Royal 
Arch Chapter, has been thrice Illustrious Master of 
Adoniram Council, Eminent Commander of Trinity 
Commandery, K. T., all of Manchester, and Grand 
Commander of the Grand Commandery of New 
Hampshire. He is now in his second term as 
Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in New 
Hampshire. He is also a thirty-second degree 
Mason, being a member of E. A. Raymond Con- 
sistory of Nashua. In politics Mr. Hayes is an 
earnest Democrat. He has been president of the 



W'lLLET'S BOOK^OF NUTFJELD 



I 27 



Granite State Club and an active party worker for 
several vears. In 1H94, as Democratic candidate 
for ma\or of Manchester, he received a flattering 
vt)te, including the support nt numerous members 
of the opposing- party. He is an eloquent and 
pleasing public speaker and presents his thoughts 
with force and clearness. As president of the 
First Baptist Society, he wields an influence in 
religious circles. Mr. I:Ia\es was married, Jan. i, 
1885, to Belle J., daughtrr of J(jhn and Hannah B. 
(Tewksbury) Kennard, who died Aug. i, 1890, 
leaving three children; John Carroll, now nine 
years old ; Louise K., aged seven, and Annie Belle, 
aged five. 

Herbert Walter Eastman, secretary of the 
Manchester board of trade, was born in Lowell, 
Mass., Nov. 3, 1857. He attended the public schools 
of that citv until 1870, when he went to Boston 
and was employed in a large wholesale and retail 
store. In 1873 he came to Manchester and went 
to the Lincoln grammar school, graduating in the 
class of 1874, taking the highest honors in pen- 
mans'nip and tlrawing. Soon afteiwaid he went 
to work iu the Dailv Mirror office, in spare hours 
studying wood engraving and making numerous 
illustrations for the dailv and weekly editions. In 
1875 he entered the empluv of Cam|)l)ell t^c Ilan- 
scom, of the Daily Union, and worked in every 
department irom the pressroom to reportorial and 
editorial work and proof reading. When the 
Union was made a morning paper he was assistant 
local reporter, and in June, 18S0, he was promoted 
to the city editorship, which he resigned in Jan- 
uary, 1 88 1, because of ill health. Aug. i, 1884, he 
became city editor of the Weekly Budget, writing 
also numerous articles on industrial and historical 
subjects. In 1886, with F. H. Challis, he pur- 
ehasi-(l the Budget, anil with him started the pub- 
lication of the Daih" Press and was its city editor. 
In 1889 he sold his interest to Mr. Challis, but 
continued in charge of the local department till 
early in 1891, when he accepted a position as 
assistant secretary of the board of trade, the 
secretary, E. J. Knowlton, having been elected 
mayor of the cit\-. In Ma\', 1891, Mr. Knowlton 
resigned and Mr. Flastman was unanimousl\- 
elect j(l secretary of the board, and has been re- 
elected each year since. During his term as 



secretary the board has gained nearly a hundred 
members and now has the largest membership and 
occupies the finest headquarters of any such 
organization in New England (uitside of Boston. 
By a system of renting desk room, originating with 
Secretary Eastman, the expenses of the board are 
very much reduced. He is a Past Grand of Wildey 
Lodge, and a member of Mount Washington En- 
cami)ment, I. O. O. Y ., United Order of Friends, 
United American Mechanics, and Amoskeag 
Grange, P. of H., president of the Manchester 
Press Club, treasurer of the Coon Club, an organ- 
ization of newspaper men of the state, and presi- 
dent of the Manchester Cadet Veteran Associa- 
tion. He married, Jan. 9, 1890, Nellie Clough 
Eatnn, daughter of George E. and Lucinda 
(French) Eaton of Candia, N. H. 




GOVERt*-MENT liUILDINi;, MANX H KM hK 



HON. JAMES A. WESTON, 



HON. JAMES A. WESTON was born in 
what is now Manchester, Aucj. 27, 1827. 
He was the lineal descendant of a family promi- 
nent and influential in the colonization of New 
England, his ancestors coming originally from 
Buckinghamshire, England, early in the seven- 
teenth century. In 1622 John Weston and his 
brother-in-law, Richard Green, came to Wey- 
mouth, then called Wiscasset, and aided in the 
formation of a colony. In 1644 a son of John 
Weston, whose name also was John, concealing 
himself in an emigrant ship until well out at sea, 
obtained a passage to America and joined his 
relatives in Massachusetts. He finally settled in 
Reading, Mass., and became distinguished for his 
services in the administration of the colonial go\^- 
crnment. From him sprang the lineage to which 
the subject of this sketcii belongs. Amos Weston, 
father of James A. Weston, was born in Reading, 
Mass., in 1791. He moved to New Hampshire in 
1803 and settled in a section of Manchester which 
was formerlv a part of Londonderry. He was a 
farmer, and was promment in the management of 
the town's business and affairs. In 18 14 he mar- 
ried Miss Betsey Wilson, a daughter of Colonel 
Robert Wilson of Londonderry, and granddaughter 
of James Wilson, who came from Londonderry, 
Ireland, and was one of those indomitable Scotch- 
Irish whose courage, thrift, and persistency became 
such a factor in the growth of the new colony. 
The childhood and youth of James A. Weston 
were spent on his father's farm, and his education 
was obtained in the district schools and academies 
of Manchester. He mastered thoroughly the 
profession of civil engineering while engaged in 
teaching school in Londonderry and Manchester. 
In 1846, while only nineteen years of age, he was 
appointed assistant engineer of the Concord Rail- 
ro.id, and in 1849 he was made chief engineer of 
that road. As chief engineer he superintended the 
construction of the Manchester & Candia and the 
Suncook Valley railroads. In 1854 he married 
Anna S. Gilmore of Concord, by whom he had 
six children : Herman, Grace Helen, James Henry, 
Edwin Bell, Annie Mabel, and Charles Albert 
Weston, all of whom survive except Herman. 



In politics he was always a Democrat. In 
1862 he was a candidate for mayor, but was de- 
feated. In the following year he was again a can- 
didate and was again defeated by only a few votes, 
but in 1867 he was elected mayor over Hon. 
Joseph B. Clark. In 1868 he was again the un- 
successful candidate, but was elected in 1870 and 
in 1 87 1. While mayor he conferred lasting benefit 
upon the city bv the establishment of a system of 
water-works. As ex-officio member of the board 
of water commissioners he was untiring in his 
efforts to hasten to completion the important un- 
dertaking. He continued until his death a mem- 
ber of the board, giving to that body the best 
results of his foresight and experience. In 1870, 
by the almost unanimous choice of his party, Mr. 




THE WESTON RESIDENCE. 



Weston became the nominee for governor. There 
was no election by the people, although he 
received a plurality of votes. He was chosen 
governor by the legislature, however, and in 1872 
he was again the gubernatorial candidate against 



128 




rayv^v^AJ) 



iJT FyMtta-vU 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



131 



Hon. E/ckicl A. Straw, luit was defeated. In 
1873 he was also defeated hy the same candidate. 
He ran the fourth time, and was far ahead of his 
opponent. Gen. Luther McCutchins. There was 
no ehoiee by the ])eople, however, and Gov. 
Weston was again eleeted by the legishiture. He 
served as chairman of the New Hampsliire Cen- 
tennial Commission, and was appointed by con- 
gress a member of the board of finance. He was 
also chairman of the buildino; committee of the 
soldiers' monument. Upon the establishment of 
the state board of health he was elected a member 
as sanitary engineer, holding that position until 
his death. Mr. Weston was actively interested in 
the financial and charitable institutions of Man- 
chester. He was trustee of the Amoskeag Savings 
bank, and in 1S77 he was elected preside'nt of the 
Citv National bank, which has since been changed 
to the Merchants' National bank. He was ti'eas- 
urer and one of the trustees of the Guarant\- 
Savings bank from its incorporation; treasurer of 
the Suneook Valle}* railroad and one of the prc;- 
motcrs and director of the Manchester Street 
railroad ; one of the incorporators of the New 
Hampshire Fire Insurance Company and has 
always, with the exception of a few years, been its 
president. In 1880 the supreme court appointed 
him cliairman of the board of trustees for the 
bondholders of the Manchester & Keene railroad. 
In 1864 he was eleeted treasurer of Trinitv Com- 
manderv, a position which he thereafter held, and 
he was treasurer of the Elliot hospital for many 
vears. In 1871 Dartmouth College conferred on 
him the degree of master of arts. Gov. Weston 
died May 8, 1895, beloved and mourned by the 
entire community. June 1 1, the Manchester board 
of trade took appropriate action upon his death, 
a committee consisting of Mavor Clarke and e.x- 
Mavors Bartlett and Knowlton reporting a series 
of highlv eulogistic resolutions which were unani- 
mouslv adopted. Upon this occasion also Gen. 
Bartlett delivered an eloquent and beautiful tribute 
to the memorv of the deceased, concluding as 
follows : 



Like the great maPK of our native poinilation. born in the 
first half of the present century. Governor Weston tirst saw the 
light upon a New Hampshire farm. It was there that his life 



habits were formed — there that the generous and noble impulses 
which he inherited from an honorable ancestry found full and 
free development — there that the characteristics of the tyjjical 
American citizen found that safe and secure anchorage which no 
subsequent contact with adverse influences in after life could 
shake or disturb. New Hampshire owes much to her farm-born 
boys and her farm-nurtured youth. They have largely molded 
her character and given to her the honored name she bears and 
her broad and enviable fame which is the pride of every citizen, 
but few among them all have made larger individual donations 
to her prosperity and renown than he whose name we honor 
tonight. During all his long connection with most important 
and diversified business aftaiis and his mcst notable career n 
public life, no man has ever said that he ever bowed to tempta- 
tion — was ever swerved by opportunity or ever looked on duty 
with an interrogation pomt in his eye. His dollars, were they 
few or many, were honest dollars — not a soiled one, not a 
dishonest one among them. His liberal fortune represents the 
honest earnings of a busy life, and the legitimate appreciation of 
wise and conservative investments. He never sought riches by 
any attempt to turn other men's wealth into his own p-ocket by 
any cunning, craft, or over-reaching. If any illustration of the 
truism that honesty is the best policy was needed, James K. 
Weston supyjlied it. 

The ])rop:-!c'.:cs of this occasion admit of only general allu- 
sions to his ))rominent characteristics. A recital of the business 
enterprises alone, with which from first to last he has been asso- 
ciated, would involve the compilation of a very respectable busi- 
ness catalogue and it would not be confined to Manchester 
alone, but other sections of the state have been largely benefitted 
and their prosperity and development substantially enhanced by 
his enterprise and foresight.' His broad comprehension and 
excellent judgment poise enabled him to participate in a large 
number of business concerns, widely diverse in character, with 
great profit to himself and his associates. Success smiled upon 
all his undertakings — failure knew him not. To everything of 
private or jniblic concern in which he enlisted, his hand was 
helpful — his judgment an anchor of safety and his name a 
pillar of strength. Manchester, his home as a boy and man — 
ever loyal and generous to her favored son — often summoning 
him to the helm in her own affairs — repeatedly jjressing him to 
the front in the broader arena of the state — trusting and con- 
fiding in him always and everywhere — never disappointed, 
never deceived, — Manchester comes to the front and joins hands 
with his kin of blood in this great sorrow ; a sorrow that falls 
upon every home and hearthstone within her borders with the 
force of a personal bereavement. 

These few, words of tribute are ill suited to a life so full of 
good works, so rich in noble example and so fruitful in inspira- 
tion to the busy world it touched in so many relations. But 
Governor Weston will live in the things he did and the results he 
accomplished, and not in what we say of him. In these he will 
live on though the closed eye and the sealed lip may never more 
respond to the solicitation of human fellowship. Not only 
to us, Init to those who will succeed us, his noble life work 
will remain the proudest memorial to the memory of James .A, 
Weston, 



HON. HENRY W. BLAIR, 




^^, 



HON. IIENRV NV. Bl.AlU, liorn in C.inii.- Campion fai hut. He attrmlrd thr district schi.ol 
ton Dt-c. 6, 1S34, is tlu' son ot William winters, and in 1S5 1 , when sixteen vcars old, t)eu,an 
llenrv and Lois (Baker) Hiair. heino" a direct de- attendinti' Holmes' PKmoulli Aeademv, where he 
scendnnt o{ lanu'S Hlair, one ol the orio'inal sctlK'rs was Inst ilrawn into poliiiial alTairs, in schooll)o\- 
ot NnttieUI. ianions as an i-iu,ht-loot hii^h yiant lasiiion, t here luMn^ warm contention amoni; the 
whose suj>remc continii)! lor the red nun and their students in those davs of sprouting; abolitionism. 

After two terms at 
Phni o n t h he a t- 
t eiuletl t he New 
1 lampshire C'onler- 
cnce Scminarv one 
term. 

I'^or a \'car lies^in- 
iiinii" in i 853, tin- am- 
bitious voting" student 
worked at making 
picture frames at 
Sanbornton Bridge 
(now Tillon) to earn 
mone\" to put him- 
self through colk-ge. 
'Idle man he worked 
f o r fail ed, o w i ng 
Hlair his year's wages. 
The voung man 
caught tiic measles 
and was sick a long 
time, almost unto 
death. Meanwhile 
he had kept up his 
connections at the 
I SL-minarx b\' aeti\"e 
I soeietN membership. 
and in the fall o{ 
HON. HENRY w. HLAIR. 1^54 attcudcd that 

institution another 
ook another term at 
iipporting himsell hv 



warfare went a great 
wav toward protect- 
ing the people and 
propi'rt\' ot Londoii- 
d c r r \ . 1 1 i s I o vc- 
1, It hers were prom- 
inent in the sii-ge ot 
old London d er r\'. 
Mr. Bhiii's mother 
was the graiuKlaugh- 
ter of Moses Baker 
of C'.nidi.i. who was 
a king's surve\or in 
ihc earb ^l.^\ s ,md 
I. Her ,1 memlu'r ol 
liie famous commit- 
tee of safet\ ol the 
Societ\ oi the C'in- 
cinn.ui. and w,is ,i 
cipiain ,11 tiie b.illlc 
of Bennington ,ind 
t he sii'gc id Boston. 
It is pl.iin. theielorc. 
th.it New I lamp- 
shire's honored Blair 
is descended lioni 
Revolutionar\' stock 
on both sitles of the 
family, as well as 




)^ 



from the solid Scotch- 
Irish pioneers who m.ide the w holesiune bi'ginning ti'ini. The next \i-.ir he 
that li.is mcint so much to this section o( the I'bmouth. all the time 
country. teaching and in other wa\s. 

William llenrv Blair met with a fatal accident In iSqohc began reading kiw with William 
when the son. llenr\, was but two vears oKI. and Leverell at Pbinouth, and was admitted to the 
the mother was left with .several small children, bar in 1850, remaining with Mr. Levcrett as part- 
She put them out among the farmers of that sec- ner. He was appointed solicitor for Grafton 
tion, but kept a home with the youngest, a babe in count\ in 1800 and served two years with unusual 
arms, at I'h mouth, until she ilied a few vears later, efficiency, handling several formidable murder 
Henry made his home with Richard Bartlett, a cases like a veteran lawver. Durinsi these years 



WILLHT'S book of Ni'TFIELr>. 



'..5 



of preparation for a prominent put)lic life he liad 
ihc intellectual assistance of Samuel A. Burns 
of Plvmouth, a retired teacher who had moulded 
inanv young minds before and lent such aid to tiiis 
voung New Ham|)shire i)oy as only a scholar of 
leisure and deep learning could. 

When the War of the Rebellion i)i()ke out Mr. 
Ulairlried to enlist in I lu- fifth and twelfth regi- 
ments, but |)oor heallh had left him in such a bad 
condition ])livsically that he was not accepted, until 
the hfteenth regiment was formed. For this he 
raised a company, enlisted as a |)ri\'ate, was elected 
captain, and later appointed major bv the gov- 
ernor and council. He had about a year's service 
at the front, when his regiment was discharged in 
1863, he then having the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel. Col. Blair's first battle service was at the 
siege of Fort Hudson, and he was severely 
wounded twice during that siege. He was in 
command of his regiment most of the time. After 
the discharge of his regiment Lieut. Col. Blair was 
a|)pointed deputy provost marshal, held the posi- 
tion about a year, but rendered little active service 
on account of wounds and sickness. He was 
unable through ill health, caused by his wounds 
and diseases contracted in the war, to do much at 
his profession for six years. 

Col. Blair was elected to the New Hampshire 
legislature from Plymouth in 1866, and was prom- 
inent in the hot [)olitical battle that resulted in the 
ileclion of J. W. Patterson to the United States 
senate. In 1867 and 1868 Mr. Blair represented 
the old eleventh district in the state senate. Then 
began for lawyer Blair a season of prosperity. 
He had j)ractically regained his health and 
with it the ambitions of youth were revived. 
Between the thirty-third and the fortieth years of 
life he built up what was considered as large and 
lucrative a practice as that of any country lawyer 
in the state. 

Political conditions drew the soldier and 
lawyer into the service of his party, his state, and 
his country. New Hampshire had fallen into the 
habit of electing Democratic governors and con- 
gressmen with an ease that filled the Republican 
camp with apprehension. A national election was 
due m 1876, and prospects were good for Dem- 
ocratic success unless New Hampshire could be 



recovered by the RepubHcans in the spring of 
1875. This opinion seemed to prevail among 
leaders of the party throughout the country, and 
strong candidates must therefore be nominated in 
the Granite state to stem the tide as far as pos- 
sible. Accordingly Col. Blair was nominated for 
congress in the old third district against Col. 
Henry O. Kent, and after a hard fought campaign 
was elected m spite (jf the fact that ])arty leaders 
had considered it a hopeless struggle. Hon. P. C. 
Cheney was chosen governor by a narrow margin, 
his election being made possible by the success of 
Col. Blair in the third congressional district. Mr. 
Blair had only 164 majoritv, but it was the begin- 
ning of many phenomenal political victories. 
Democrats were elected in both the other districts. 
Col. Blair had lost his law practice and had spent 
his money in the cam]iaign, but the Repul)licans 
secured the next president after a contest over the 
Hayes-Tilden election. 

Mr. Blair was elected to congress again in 
1877, after another hard struggle; w^as elected 
United States senator in 1879, and again in 1885. 
He was then tendered the United States district 
judgeship for New Hampshire, but declined for 
reasons plain to him as a man of highest honor. 
In 1 89 1 ex-senator Blair was appointed minister 
to China by President Harrison, but was rejected 
by the Chinese government because of the em- 
phatic opposition the senator had shown to 
Chinese immigration. Elected to the national 
house in 1892 from the first New Hampshire dis- 
trict, and declining a renomination, Mr. Blair 
retired after two years of hard service in the fifty- 
third congress, and is now in private life practising 
law in Manchester. 

It is seldom given to one son of any state to 
serve so well and so long her interests in national 
affairs. Full of the courage of his convictions 
from the beginning to the end, Mr. Blair came out 
of the political wars bearing an unblemished 
record. His head and hands were always active in 
the cause of right and of progress. He was a 
close student and a deep thinker at all times, and 
gfave all the best of his talents to his official life, 
and the measure was never stinted. 

The congressional history of his time is full 
of his work. Some of the principal measures 



134 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



which Mr. Blair originated and advocated are the 
proposed amendment to the national constitution 
prohibiting the manufacture of and traffic in alco- 
holic beveraofes ; the amendment of the constitu- 
tion providing for non-sectarian public schools ; 
the Common School or the Education bill; the 
Sunday Rest bill ; the Dependent Pension bill, and 
other public and private legislation providing for 
the soldiers of the country and their relatives ; the 
establishment of the department of labor and 
much of the labor and industrial legislation of the 
past twenty years, including the law providing for 
rebates upon foreign materials manufactured here 
for exportation ; the joint resolution first proposing 
political union with Canada, and legislation for tlie 
promotion of the interests of agriculture through- 
out the country. The amendment giving the 
right of suffrage to women was introduced by 
him and was under his special charge in the senate. 

Some of Senator Blair's speeches and reports, 
which have been most widely circulated, are upon 
finance and the nature and uses of money, temper- 
ance, woman suffrage, education, Chinese immigra- 
tion, foreign trade and relations, reconstruction, 
suffrage, social and political conditions of the 
countrv, the tariff, the relations between labor and 
capital, and all the more important and funda- 
mental questions, some of which have been con- 
sidered of an advanced and radical nature. Bishop 
Newman said of him : " The only just criticism upon 
Mr. Blair is that he is fifty years ahead of his tmies." 

No public servant can point with more honest 
pride to an active career during which he has 
cared better for the interests of his constituents 
than can Mr. Blair. He is more widely known 
than any other New Hampshire man, and hon- 
ored everywhere. His speeches on the stump at 
home and in various parts of the country have 
been numerous and diversified. In 1888 Mr. Blair 
published a book on " The Temperance Move- 
ment ; or, the Conflict of Man with Alcohol," of 
which Bishop Hurst of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church said : " It is probably the most important 
contribution to temperance literature that has 
been made by any author." His hand has been 
felt in many public benefits. He was leading fac- 
tor in the establishment of the State Normal School 
at Plymouth, and the Holderness School for Bovs, 



in securing the beautiful public building for Man- 
chester, and in the movement for a national monu- 
ment for Gen. John Stark to be placed in Stark 
Park, Manchester. 

Mr. Blair was married in 1859 to Eliza Nel- 
son, daughter of Rev. William Nelson of Ply- 
mouth, N. H., and to her owes much of the sus- 
taming power that has made his public life a credit 
to him. Thev have one son, Henry P. Blair, now 
practising law in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Blair 
has l)een widely connected with literary societies, 
particularly in Washington and New Hampshire. 
She was a trustee of the New Hampshire State 
Normal School, and is a trustee of the Garfield 
National Hospital, Washington, D. C, and Blair 
tower on the building was named in her honor. 
She is connected with the Woman's Relief Corps, 
has done much work on the ladies' auxiliarv board 
of Elliot Hospital. Mrs. Blair is the author of 
the novel "'Lisbeth Wilson, a Daughter of the 
New Hampshire Hills," published in 1S94 bv 
Lee »& Shepard, which has been widely read. 

SLAVERY was not unknown in Londonderrv 
before the Revolution. According to the 
census of 1773 there were twelve male and thir- 
teen female slaves in the town, and they seem 
to have been regarded as chattels, not as human 
beings, although they were humanely treated. 
Rev. William Davidson, minister of the East 
Parish, owned two, a mother and a daughter, 
named Poll and Moll. In the West Parish, 
Thomas Wallace and Deacon James Thomj)- 
son, both very devout men, were slave owners. 
It is related of a negro boy named Toney, who 
was the property of Mr. Wallace and who had 
cost his master one hundred dollars, that he 
was very proud of his money value. Once in 
the spring freshet he built a raft and went to ride 
on the flowed meadow of the fourteen-acre meadow 
brook. His frail craft, not being solidly made, 
began to go to pieces, and Tonev, having in view 
both his own life and his master's property, shouted 
to Mr. Wallace: "Come and save your hundred 
dollars." Soon after the Revolution slavery ceased 
in most of the northern states, and there is no 
record of slaves being owned in Londonderry after 
the beginning of the present centurv. 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



135 




Q 

'J. 

y. 

w 



o 



< 






o 



w 
o 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN NUTFIELD. 



T 



HE oUlcst oroanization with an unbroken pointed out, no movement seems to have been 
histoi\' in what may be termed the Nutfield made bv the colonists to build a house of worship, 
section of New Hampshire, — older even than the At a public meeting, however, iield June 3, 1720, 
civil government itself — is the First Church in it was voted that a small house should be built 
Derry. Before the first settlers had secured the " convenient for the inhabitants to meet in for the 
incorporation of their town, or had decided what worship of God," and that it should be placed " as 
name to give it, or had even obtained a satisfac- near the senter of the one hundred and hve lots as 
tory title to the land they had selected, and prob- can be with conveniance." The location of the 
ably within six weeks of the day when the first log meeting-house was definitely determined at another 
cabin was built, thev took measures for the per- general meeting, held on the 29th of the same 
manent establishment of religious ordinances. In month, the site chosen being a little north of the 
the month of May, 1719, thev organized them- present house of worship. Six months later, or 
selves mto a Christian church and called the Rev. on Jan. 11, 1721, it was voted that "a meeting- 
James MacGregor to become their pastor and house shall be built in this town as speedily as 
religious teacher. The exact date of his installa- may be," and that " it shall be fifty feet in length, 
tion is unknown, but it was in the nn)nth of May, fortv-five feet broad, and as high as may be con- 
and could therefore have been but a few weeks venient for one set of galleryes." For some rea- 
after the preaching of the first sermon on the son, however, probably from lack of means to 
shore of the lake, an account of which is given on meet the cost, or because they had not yet ob- 
page 52. There being no presbytery in New tained an altogether satisfactorv title to the land 
England at that time, and it being impossible for selected for their town, the work of building was 
them to instal their minister in the regular wav, not begun until the following year. In June, 
those Scotchmen, who were accustomed to dealing 1722, a charter was obtained, and the town incor- 
with emergencies, took the matter into their own porated. It was thus about three years after the 
hands and appointed a dav for the solemn service, first log house had been erected that the church 
Where this service was held, whether in some log was completed and dedicated. During these first 
house or barn on Westrunning brook, or in the three years, however, the settlers faithfully main- 
open air, we do not know, but Mr. MacGregor tained religious ordinances, holding their services 
himself conducted the services, offering the in- either in one of their log dwellings or in the open 
stallation prayer and preaching the installation air, as the season of the year and the weather 
sermon. His text was from Ezekiel xxxvii. 26 : might permit. This first house of worship was 
" Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with not built without great sacrifice on the part of the 
them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; settlers, nor without some pecuniary aid from 
and I will place them andmultiply them, and will set abroad, but it is significant of their conscientious- 
my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." ncss and devotion that in their straitened cir- 
During the first year, as Rev. Dr. Wellman has cumstances they built a framed house of worship^ 

136 



W/LLE2-'.S BOOK OF NC^TFIELD. 



137 



" convenient and well fniished," while they con- 
structed their own dwellinsjs of lot^s and covered 
them with bark. 

For nearly fifty years the peoj^le worshipped 
in this first sanctuary, and in 1769, duriny- the 
ministry of Rev. William Davidson, a larger and 
more imposing edifice was erected. Its dimen- 
sions were sixty-one by forty-five feet, and it 
was high enough for 
the introduction of gal- 
leries and a lofty sound- 
ing board suspended over 
the high pulpit. It was 
also ornamented with a 
steeple more slender and 
towering higher than the 
present one. This house, 
we are told, was well 
finished, and equalled, if 
it did not surpass, in its 
appearance, most of the 
church edifices of that 
period. The "raising" 
of the building was a 
great event. A large 
multitude of people as- 
sembled, and the parts 
of the huge, heavy-tim- 
bered frame were lilted 
into position by hun- 
dreds of strong arms 
amidst the thundering 
of commands and the 
mighty shoutings of the 
people. According to 
the custom of the time, 
a custom which to our 
modern ideas seems 

hardlv consistent with earnest piety, intoxicating 
liquors were dispensed on the occasion with lavish 
hand. How our forefathers reconciled drunken- 
ness with religion we do not know, but they did it 
succcssfulh'. 

This second hcjuse of God, built in i 769, en- 
larged in 1822. remodelled in 1845, and renovated, 
adorned and rededicated in 1884, is still the 
home of the First Church in Derry. In this house 
Rev. Edward L. Parker preached foi" forty years. 




REV. EDWARD L. PARKER. 



and during the first twelve years of his ministry it 
stood unchanged as it had been built in i 769. He 
has left on record a description of the interior, 
which is as follows : 

As you approached the pulpit jou tirst came to the deacons' 
seat, elevated like the pews, about six inches from the tloor of 
the aisles. In the deacons' narrow slip usually sat two venerable 
men, one at each end. Back of the deacons' seat, and elevated 

ten or twelve inches higher, was 
the pew of the ruling elders, 
larger than that of the elders 
and about square. Back of 
the elders' pew, and two or 
three feet higher, and against 
the wall, was the pulpit. There 
was appended to the pulpit an 
iron frame for the hour glass 
that was turned by the minis- 
ter at the commencement of 
his discourse, which was ex- 
jjected to continue during the 
running of the sands. Some- 
times, when the preacher 
deemed his subject not suffi- 
ciently exhausted, the glass 
would be turned again, and 
another hour in whole or 

in i)art occupied In 

many of the meeting-houses 
of that day there were, on each 
side of the centre aisle and in 
front of the pulpit, two or 
three seats of sufficient length 
to accommodate eight or ten 
persons. These were designed 
for the elderly portion of the 
congregation and for such as had 
no i)ews. In these the men and 
women were seated separately, 
on oijposite sides. On these 
]>lain seats our grave and de- 
vout forefathers would content- 
edly sit during a service of 
two hours, without the luxury 
of cushions or carjjets, and in the colder seasons of the year 
without stoves, and in houses not so thoroughly guarded 
against the iienetration of the cold as those of the present day. 

The enlargement of the church in 1822 was 
effected by cutting the house into two parts and 
then inserting between the two parts twenty-four 
feet of new structure, thus making the building, as 
it is today, eighty-five feet in length. In this first 
change the general internal arrangement was re- 
tained. The pulpit remained on the north side, 



138 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



and hiy^h galleries on the other three sides, but the 
old sounding board over the pulpit disappeared. 
Two new front doors, about twenty-four feet 
apart, were inserted on the south side, nearly op- 
posite the pulpit, each opening into an aisle, 
whereas previously there had been but one door 
on that side, opening into one central aisle; and 
there was also a door at each end of the edifice as 
before. The new seats in the gallery facing the 
pulpit were reserved for the singers. But the old 
square pews on either side of the new ones re- 
mained, so that from 1822 until 1845 there were 
the old square pews on each end of the church, 
and between them the new straight and narrow 
slips, like a piece of new cloth on an old garment. 
The old and unusually lofty and slender steeple 
was taken down and a stronger one erected in its 
place ; and in this new steeple was hung the first 
church bell ever heard in Derrv. It was the gift 
by legacv of Jacob Adams, who founded Adams 
Female Academv. 

In December, 1821, stoves were used in the 
church for the first time. A vear after the en- 
largement thev were placed in the improved edi- 
fice, for the record savs that on Oct. 27, 1823, it 
was voted that " one stove should be located near 
Capt. Redfield's pew, and the other near Dr. 
Farrar's pew; and that the stove pipes should 
extend out of the windows north and south." 
Thus, for a whole century, lacking one year, the 
people of Derry worshipped, through the long cold 
winters, in an unwarmed meeting-house. The 
women sometimes used foot-stoves and heated 
hand-stones, but these were scorned by most of 
the people, even though the church was colder 
than their barns. 

In 1845, or twentv-three years after the en- 
largement of the house, another change was made. 
This time the interior was entirely reconstructed, 
by which a town hall and a vestry were provided 
below, and a spacious audience room above. The 
pulpit was transferred from the north side to the 
west end of the house, and the high galleries on 
three sides disappeared, one gallery on the east 
end, designed for the choir, taking their place. 
Instead (jf the two great front doors on the south 
side, two were placed at the east end of the house. 
All the old square pews, with their hinged and 



rattling seats, were replaced by the straight and 
narrow slips. The audience room was painted and 
frescoed in most excellent taste, and the general 
appearance of the interior was modernized. 

Thus the church stood until 1884, when, after 
being thoroughly repaired, renovated, and beauti- 
fied, it was rededicated. On that occasion Rev. Dr. 
J. W. Wellman, who had been pastor of the church 
from 1 85 1 until 1856, preached a notable sermon, 
in which he paid these tributes to the benefactors 
and prominent members of the church : 

First of all. it is becoming that we should gratefully remem- 
ber him through whose generous legacy, aided by gifts which his 
own benevolence prompted, this church edifice has been re- 
stored to more than its pristine beauty. Mr. David Bassett was 
the son of Thomas and Susannah (MacGregor) Bassett. He 
was born in Deerfield, N. H., in the year 1800. His mother 
was a descendant of the Rev. James MacGregor. With such 
blood flowing through his veins, it is not strange that he cared 
for the Lord's house. It was worthy of his noble lineage that 
he should make that bequest, by means of which the exterior 
of this sanctuary has been thoroughly repaired and the interior 
elegantly renovated. As I remember Mr. Bassett, he was a man 
of few words, quiet in his dis]iosition. living an unobtrusive life, 
but was not unthoughtful of divine and eternal things. For a 
time he was the sexton of this church, and the interest he then 
came to take in the church edifice seems never to have died out. 
And in his advanced years, when he observed the sad wear of time 
upon the ancient building, it was not unnatural that he should raise 
the question of his own duty to repair the house of the Lord. 
In his early life, if I am correctly informed, he had some reli- 
gious experience which made an ineftaceable impression upon 
his mind, but he never made any public [jrofession of Christian faith 
until the year 1876, when he united with this church by con- 
fession of Christ. And may we not hope that his gift by will for 
the repairing and adorning of the Lord's house was designed to 
be an offering expressive of his own love and gratitude to his 
redeemer. 

Mr. Bassett's name is not inscribed upon these walls, but 
this communion table and this externally and internally reno- 
vated sanctuary are his fitting memorial. 

The three men, James C. Taylor, Charles H. Day, and 
Frank W. Parker, whom lie made trustees of his legacy and on 
whom he placed the responsibility of deciding what repairs 
should be made, have had a delicate and diflicult task to per- 
form. With what fidelity and wisdom they have performed their 
trust, this transformed and beautifully adorned house of worship 
testifies today. These gentlemen deserve, and, I am sure, will 
receive, your sincere and grateful acknowledgements. 

But others have supplemented Mr. Bassett's legacy by 
timely and noble gifts. This new and tasteful pulpit furniture, 
presented by the family of Deacon Daniel J. Day, tenderly 
reminds us of one who loved and faithfully served this church, 
but has now entered into the communion and service of the 
church triumphant. 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



'39 



These memorial windows, so ricii in artistic beauty, and 
tasteful, suggestive symbols, are richer still in the names they 
bear. To give any just account of the characters and lives 
which these names represent would re([uire a vohmie. I can 
only allude to them. 

Nothing can be more appropriate than that the memory 
of the first pastor of this church, the Rev. James MacGregor, 
and of his devoted wife, Marion Cargill, should be honored in 
this house of worship. Tradition represents him as every way 
a noble man. Tall, erect, athletic, he swayed people by his 
commanding personal presence. Distinguished for his mental 
ability and self-control, for wisdom and goodness, manly energy 
and courage, for sagacity and prudence in secular and civil 
affairs ; a man of sincere and humble piety ; thoroughly evan- 
gelical in his faith ; an able and eloquent preacher of the gospel : 
a devoted pastor, loving his people as he loved his own family, 
and interested in all that 
concerned his flock, he 
was eminently fitted to be 
the father of this church, 
and the acknowledged 
leader of that noble band 
of men who founded this 
town. The members of 
this church rejoice today 
that his name and minis- 
try are commemorated in 
this house of worship. 

But the same radiant 
window is rich in other 
historic names. The Rev. 
David MacGregor, a son 
of the first pastor of this 
church, was himself the 
first pastor of the church 
in the West Parish, now 
the Presbyterian church in 
the modern town of Lon- 
donderry. He was or- 
dained in 1737. The son 

inherited largely the commanding abilities and noble spirit of his 
filher. His ministry was eminently evangelistic. He preached 
and labored for the salvation of his people. Sympathizing with 
the great evangelist, George Whitefield, he invited him to his 
pulpit : and his own fervid preaching and prayers were rewarded 
with re\ivals of religion. He laliored with the church in the 
West Parish until his death, which occurred in 1777. The 
length of his able and faithful pastorate was forty years. It 
is fitting that the name of this distinguished son of the first 
pastor of this church, and also that of his accomplished wife, 
Mary Boyd, should have an honorable place in this Christian 
sanctuary. 

On this same window is the name of Gen. George Reid 
who with Gen. John Stark, both of I,ondonderry, attained high 
lame in the Revolutionary war. He was the son of James Reid. 
The father was a native of Scotland and a. graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh. He was one of the first settlers of Derry, 




VIEW OF DERRY VILLAOE, 



a member of the First Chuich. and of its session. Afterward, 
for many years, he was an elder of the church in the \\'est 
Parish. His famous son. Gen. Reid. was himself a Christian 
man, and through all the years of his miUtary service under Gen. 
Washington, evinced a firm faith in the efficacy of prayer, as 
in the potency of arms. His wife, Mary Woodburn, was in every 
way worthy of her noble husband. She is described as a woman 
of rare endowments. Gen. Stark, who knew her well, once 
remarked : "If there is a woman in New Hampshire fit for gov- 
ernor, 'tis Molly Reid." This church honors itself in receiving 
her name, with the historic name of her husband, ujjon one of 
its memorial windows. 

There is likewise recorded up'on this window the name of 
Col. Robert MacGregor. He was the son of Rev. David Mac- 
Gregor. In the war of the Revolution he was on the staff of 
Gen. John Stark. His wife, Elizabeth Reid. whose name is 

placed with his on this roll 
of honor, was the daugh- 
ter of Gen. George Reid. 
On the lower part of 
this same window — so 
brilliant in both its beauty 
and its names — we find 
commemorated the Rev. 
John Ripley Adams, D. D., 
and his wife, Mary Ann 
MacGregor; also Mrs. 
Adams's two sisters, Maria 
MacGregor Cogswell, and 
Elizabeth MacGregor Hall. 
Dr. Adams, born 1802, in 
Plainfield, Conn., graduat- 
ing from Yale College in 
182 1 and from Andover 
Seminary in 1826, was for 
seven years — from 1831 
to 1838 — ])astor of the 
Presbyterian church in 
Londonderry. He was 
afterward pastor of 
churches in Great Falls, Brighton, Mass., Gorham, Me. In the 
War of the Rebellion he was chaplain for three years of the Fifth 
Maine Regiment, and for one year of the One Hundred and 
Twenty-first New York Regiment. He died at Northampton, 
Mass., in i866. He was an accomplished man, genial and S3m- 
pathetic, an able preacher, and much beloved. Mrs. Adams and 
her two sisters. Mrs. Cogswell and Mrs. Hall, were daughters of 
Col. Robert MacCkegor and Elizabeth Reid. Their grandfather on 
their father's side was Rev. David Macgregor, son of Rev. James 
MacGregor, and their grandfather on their mother's side was 
Gen. George Reid. Noble and cultured women were these, and 
worthy of the honored name they bore. All the grand memories 
of this town and of this church of their fathers were dear to 
them, and they themselves are tenderly remembered by many 
now li\ing. 

The new memorial windows are five in number. All of 
them are costly and beautiful. It is believed that there are no 



140 



WIL LEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



such windows in any church outside the cities in New England : 
and probably those in the cities that excel them in magnificence 
are not numerous. 

The MacGregor window was given by Mr. James Mac- 
Gregor Adams of Chicago, 111. On the upper half of it, at the 
left, is seen the family coat of arms, with the Scotch motto : 
" E'en do bait spair nocht." Beneath this are the names, Rev. 
James McGregor : his wife, Marion Cargil. And below these 
are the names, Rev. David MacGregor; his wife, Mary Boyd. 
On the lower half, at the left, are first a dove as an emblem, and 
then the names, Maria MacGregor Cogswell, Elizabeth Mac- 
Gregor Hall. On the upper half of the window, at the right, 
are seen as emblems the Stars and .Stripes and a sword. Beneath 
these are the names. Gen. George Reid : his wife, Mary Wood- 
burn. And below these are the names. Col. Robert Mac- 
Gregor ; his wife, Elizabeth Reid. On the lower half, at the 
right, is, first, the emblem of an open Bible with two swords 
crossed ; and then below the emblem are the names. Rev. John 
Ripley Adams, I). I).: his wife, Mary Ann MacGregor. 

A resplendent window has also been placed in these walls, 
" In loving memory of James and Persis Taylor." These names 
are too familiar and dear to us all to need any words of praise 
from me. But permit me to say, that Deacon James Taylor 
was a member of the church session when I assumed the pas- 
torate of this church in 185 1. I knew him well. He was a 
good man and true. He had in his character the old-fashioned 
Scotch honesty and steadfjF:tneis. He always made himself 
understood, and everybody knew where to find him. A man of 
sound, practical judgment, he was often appointed arbiter in the 
settlement of disputes. Always calm and self-possessed, he was 
yet a man of deep feeling and had a large and kind heart. He 
was beloved in his own family, a true friend, public-spirited, 
greatly respected and honored in the town, and always faithful 
to his trust as an office-bearer in the Church of Christ. He 
loved this church, and to the promotion of its interests he was 
thoroughly devoted. 

His beloved wife, Mrs. Persis Taylor, while like her husband 
possessed of strong and sterling traits of character, was also a 
woman of tender heart and far-reaching sympathies. The chief 
arena of her power and life work was her home. There she 
reigned supreme. And as her reward, she had every right to 
glory in her children, and her '' children rise up and called her 
blessed." Though the mother of a large family, she was also a 
mother in Israel. Ardently loving her own household and kin- 
dred, and always laboring and praying for their highest welfare, 
she yet took an affectionate interest in her neighbors, in the 
church of which she was a member, in her pastor, in all Chris- 
tian institutions and service, and in every person to whom she 
could be hel])fal. She never seemed despondent. She carried 
good cheer with her wherever she went. Never shall I forget 
the motherly and encouraging words she repeatedly s|)oke to me 
during the first years of my pastorate. Many of the noblest traits 
of Deacon and Mrs, James Taylor were reproduced in the 
character of their distinguished son, Samuel Harvey Taylor, 
LL.D., so long the principal of Phillips Academy, Andover. 
How pleasant it is to see these two names honored in this house 
of prayer, wheie they together for so many years, and with such 
regularity and devoutness, worshipped God. # 



This window was the gift of Mrs. Mary K. (Taylor) Fair- 
banks of St. Johnsbury, Vt. The symbols in the upjier part are, 
at the left, flowers, and, at the right, the cross and crown. 
Beneath these, but far down on the window is the inscription : 
" In loving memory of James and Persis Taylor, by their 
children." 

We read upon another of these memorial windows the 
name of Deacon Henry Taylor, by the side of the name of one 
of his own dear kindred. He was a John-like man. It is diffi- 
cult to believe that he ever had an enemy in the world, so 
sweet, gentle, and loving was his disposition. Having no family 
of his own to care for, he took everybody into his capacious 
heart. All the people in the town fondly called him " Uncle 
Henry." He greatly loved Christ, and was the true friend of 
the church and of his pastor. Very tender is the memory of his 
benignant face and of his reverent, trustful prayers. The donor 
of this memorial window is Mr. James Calvin Taylor. For placing it 
in the house of the Lord, in honor of his beloved uncle, he will 
receive the gratitude of all his kindred and of the many friends 
of Deacon Henry Taylor. The window bears upon its upper 
part simply the Greek, symbolic letters. Alpha, Omega. In 
the lower portion, at the left, we read the name, Deacon Henry 
Taylor, and at the right. Family of James Calvin Taylor. 

Two sisters, maiden ladies, Jennette and Sarah Humjjhrey, 
sisters of the venerated and beloved Deacon John Humphrey, 
dwelt together for many years quietly and lovingly in their little 
cottage in this Upper Village. Like Mary and Martha of 
Bethany, the one silent and thoughtful, the other not less 
thoughtful but more energetic and demonstrative, they were well 
mated, each supplying the lack of the other. Little had they to 
do with the great and wide world. They lived alone in their 
own loved home, and yet not alone, for the Lord Jesus was with 
them as with the sisters in Bethany, speaking his words in thc'r 
ears and breathing his spirit into their- hearts. They were ac- 
customed to speak evil of no one, but abounded in kind words 
and deeds, ready always to minister to the sick and needy, the 
bereaved and troubled. They were frugal, yet saved not for 
themselves, but for Christ and his Kingdom. Their names were 
never sounded abroad in the public prints, but their Christian 
benevolence has reached round the globe. 

Now these two humble disciples, living apart from the 
world, so contentedly and lovingly, hardly known beyond the 
limits of this church and parish, were about the last persons to 
have ever dreamed that their names would be emblazoned at 
some future day in the midst of indescribable splendors of color 
in the house of God. And had some prophet told them 
that this honor awaited them, they would have been as 
much surprised as they will be when Christ at the last 
day shall recount before the universe all their little deeds 
of kind ministration and love, and they shall reply : 
" When did we do all these things ? " But this glory which has 
come to them, as well as that which will be the spiritual and 
eternal halo of their names in heaven, is explained by those 
words of Jesus : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." This 
window was presented by Mrs. James Calvin Taylor. On the 
toil, 'i-t t'le left, .s the emblem of the dove, and at the right, of 
the harp. At the bottom of the window are simply the two 



WlLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



141 



names, Jennette Humphrey, Sarah Humphrey. Deacon John 
Humphrey, the brother of tliose two Christian women, was the 
father of Rev. John P. Humphrey of Winchendon, Ma«s., and 
of Rev. Simon J. Humphrey, D. D., of Chicago, 111. 

Since leaving the pastorate of this church I have known 
many good jieople, God's saints on earth, the prospect of meet- 



window are the two names, Charles C. Parker, Sarah Taylor 
Parker. 

With all these appropriate memorials, now making this 
place of worship so beautiful, there would still be a sad lack here, 
were one more name not honorably inscribed upon these walls. 
True, many are the departed worthies who might fittingly be 



whom beyond this life helps to a better understanding of commemorated in the house of God. I should wish, for 



heaven. But none have I met, who, so far as I can judge, sur- 
passed in unselfishness and kindness, in sincerity and honorable- 
ne.ss, in unfailing geniality and good will, in Christian simplicity 
and trustworthiness, in genuine goodness, in unaffected piety, 
and in all real worth of character, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. 
I'arker. Living in their happy home five years, I yet have no 
recollection of hearing either of them speak a single angry or 
impro])er word. If compelled to listen to hard or uncharitable 
speech, they either gently demurred or were silent. They knew 
the worth and sacredness of friendsliip, and how to be them- 
selves true friends. They 
made advances cautiously, but 
having once given their 
friendship they would sooner 
have cut off a right hand 
than have proved false. Mr. 
Parker had lived so long in a 
minister's family, and was so 
familiar with all the labors 
and anxieties of a pastor for 
his people, that he seemed to 
take the entire care of this 
church and parish upon his 
own mind and heart. And 
his wife had learned to bear 
her full share of the same 
burden. They were never 
tired of thinking, talking, and 
planning for the good of this 
people. And had they been 
my own brother and sister, 
it is difiicult to see how they 
could have been more anxious 
for the success of my ministry 




MAIN STREET, EAST DERRY WINTER SCENE. 



instance, as doubtless you all would, to see illumined upon some 
of these windows, instead of the names of two, the names of all 
the members of that church session which I found here in 1851. 
They were rare men, and eminently worthy of such honor. 
Still every one of you will agree with me in saying that no name 
has any clearer right to have honorable place in this sanctuary 
than that of Rev. Edward L. Parker. I need not speak of him 
in this preser ce. Words better than any that I can utter you 
can read from the tablet of marble placed upon the wall at 
the right of the pulpit, and which now so appropriately com- 
memorates his character and 
his ministry of forty years 
with this church. 

The inscription upon the 
laljlet is as follows : " In 
memoriam. The Reverend 
luhvard L. Parker, born July 
-'8, 1785, graduated at Dart- 
mouth 1S07, died July 14, 
1S50. For forty years the 
faithful and beloved paslo'- of 
this church. He ])ossessed in 
a high degree sound judg- 
ment and discretion, remark- 
able wisdom and piudence, 
shrewdness and tact, com- 
bined with kindness of man- 
ner, humility, perseverance 
and untiring industry. Plain, 
practical preaching, crowned 
by ardent piety, and devo- 
tion to his work, made him a 



man fif mark and great use- 
Wholly unacquainted as I was fulness. ' They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
with the parish, and utterly inexperienced in the ministry, their the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the 
counsels, so kindly and courteously expressed, were invaluable. stars for ever and ever.' " 



From whatever mistakes I was saved, and if there was any wis- 
dom or worth in my pastoral service here, the people were in- 
debted for it more to them than to me. 

Their house was a house of prayer. Christ had long made 
his abode there, and all the rooms seemed to be the realms of 
gentleness and love. It is well that the names of these two 
friends of Christ and of his church should be made conspicuous 
in this house of God, that those who worship here may often look 
upon them, and receive the inspiration that must come from 



Dr. Wellman narrates an incident of his or- 
dination which IJnely illustrates the sturd)' charac- 
ter of the board of deacons in TS51. He says: 

Deacon James Taylor and his brother, Deacon Henry 
Taylor, were for many years members of the church session. 
Associated with them in office were Deacons Matthew Clark, 
Robert Morse, John Humphrey, Joseph Jenness, the two 



the sweet memory of their Christian kindness and fidelity, their brothers, James and Humphrey Choate, William Ela, Robert 

friendship and piety. This memorial window was placed in the Montgomery, and William Cogswell, eleven in all. When full 

church by their son, Frank W. Parker. ,\t the top of the win- the session consisted of twelve elders or deacons. In 1851, all 

dow, on the left, is the representation of an open Bible, and on the above named men were living, and enrolled as members of 

the right the symbol is the anchor. At the bottom of the the session. Two of them, however, Deacons Morse and Clark, 



142 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



by reason of age and infirmity, were not active members. Prac- 
tically, at that time, the session consisted of nine members. A 
few years later Deacon Cogswell removed to Manchester, and 
Mr. George Shiite was elected a member of the session. All 
these deacons, save Deacon Cogswell and Deacon Shute, have 
now entered into the goodly fellowship of the church triumph- 
ant. They were noble and godly men. Sturdy in character 
and honorable in life, wise in counsel and of grave and devout 
spirit, they were much respected in both the church and the 
town. Of positive convictions, strong will, and of great 
decision of character, they were yet remarkable for their Chris- 
tian gentleness and courtesy. Very beautiful was their treat- 
ment of one another. Their mutual love and Christian fellow- 
ship were not demonstrative, but were real and aliiding. It is 
pleasant to bear this testimony, that in all the numerous and 
often protracted meetings of the session during five years, to the 
best of my recollection, the deacons were never, in a single 
instance, divided in voting, and not a single unkind or bitier 
word was ever spoken. They were not always of the same mind 
at llie outset, and not unfrequently a long debate, or rather 
C'lilerence, i^receded their final decision; but when they 
came to the vote and to action, their harmony was per- 
fect. They were not timid or vacillating men. When 
med required they acted with great boldness and energy. 
This was illustrated by an incident which occurred at the 
meeting of the ecclesiastical council on the day of my 
O'dination. Some of the good Presbyterian brethren on 
the council erroneously supposed that the church was a strictly 
Presbyterian church, and under the care of the Londonderry 
prcsbytcrv. They therefore made a formal remonstrance against 
the action of the church in calling a council instead of the pres- 
bytery, and against the proposed examination and ordination of 
the ]iasior elect by the council assembled. Rev. .'\mos Blan- 
chard, D. D. , of Lowell, was moderator. A large congregation 
filled the clmrch. The excitement was intense. .Ml the acti\e 
members of the session were present, and sitting together in 
pews at the left of the moderator. When the remonstrants had 
fullv presented their case the moderator turned to the deacons 
and said : "You hear the objection which has been made to the 
action of your church and to the proposed action of this council. 
What is the desire of the session ? " The deacons, without leav- 
ing their seats, consulted together for a moment. Listantly they 
appointed Deacon John Humjihrey their spokesman. Deacon 
Humphrey, a man of great weight of character, of perfect self- 
command and of imposing presence, being over six feet in height, 
rising slowly and with solemnity from his seat, and stretching 
himself up to his full length, with a calm, firm voice and great 
courtesy of manner, said, as nearly as his words can be remem- 
bered : "Mr. Moderator, — This is not a strictly Presbyterian 
church. Though governed by a session, it is not under the 
government of any presbytery. This council has been called 
in exact accordance with certain 'Articles of Agreement ' l)y 
wliich this church in a few important particulars is governed. 
Our lale pastor, the late Rev. Edward L. Parker, was ordained 
forty years ago by a council, and not by the jiresbytery. We 
have taken the same course that was taken then. A council was 
called then, a council has been called now. And, Mr. Moder- 



ator, the desire of the session is, that this council proceed at 
once to examine the young man whom we have called to be our 
pastor ; and if he shall be found fitted for the office, we desire 
that he be ordained and installed. And if this council does not 
do this, we shall call a council that will." 

Slowly Deacon Humphrey resumed his seat. Some of the 
members of the council smiled. The deacons did not smile. 
They meant business. They knew their rights and liberties, and 
that such things were sacred, and not to be trifled with by any- 
body. Nothing more was said upon the question raised by tiie 
remonstrants. The council proceeded at once to its appointed 
work, according to the directions given by the nine venerable 
men who sat in tlie corner of the church. 

This incident discloses, in several particulars, the character 
of that board of deacons. They had the Scotch staunchness, 
decision, and energy. It was sometimes said of them that they 
were slow men, but in emergencies they moved swifily and with 
irresistible force. They were not educated in the higher school-, 
but they were intelligent. The Bible was their study. Some of 
ihem were versed in theology, and could define sharply the 
variances of the New England theology from other systems. 
The New England theology was accepted by them because they 
believed it to be scriptural, and also because they believed it to 
be substantially that interpretation of the Scriptures which 
through the ages has stood the test of being jndged by its fruits. 
The Bible they accepted as the Word of God. The modern 
glib talk about the mistakes of Moses and the prophets, and ihe 
blunders of Paul and the Evangelists, would have shocked them 
beyond measure. The statement now made with such nonchalance 
m limited circles, that Christ was either in error in some of his 
religious teachings, or was incorrectly reported by the Evan- 
gelists, would have been regarded by them as blasphemous. If 
even a theological professor had said to them. You must accept 
my view of the utter untrustworthiness of the Bible in some of 
its religious teachings, or you must stand convicted of being 
bent on ignorance, he probably would not have said that to 
them a second time. 

But while they were bold and persistent in maintaining the 
truth, and in standing for what they knew to be right, they were 
yet men of rare tenderness and kindness of heart. They were 
also reverent before God. Sincere humility was a prominent ele- 
ment in their piety. Their prayers abounded in confessions. 
They had profound convictions of sin. In their view, dis- 
obedience to God was appalling wickedness. They were always 
solemn and afraid at the thought of sin. They believed that 
" God is love," but they also believed that " Our God is a con- 
suming fire." They accepted without a doubt the scri|)iural 
teaching that the just punishment of sin is the abiding wrath of 
God, death everlasting. These profound views of sin and of its 
demerit determined their personal relation to Christ. With 
great joy and gratitude, and with a deep sense of their inex- 
pressible obligations to him, they believed on the Lord Jesus for 
the forgiveness of sins and for the life everlasting. They hun- 
gered and tlnrsted after righteousness, and therefore attached the 
highest value to all means of grace, especially to the Sabbath 
and the sanctuary as appointed of God to aid men in the attain- 
ment of holiness. . . . The farthest possible were they from 



A^ILLE2-'S L'OOK OP NUTFIELD. 



t4^ 




i' 



144 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



being stern and gloomy men. They were delightfully social in 
disposition and habits. Their words were often playful, and 
they told and relished good stories. Of despondency they knew 
little. Their hearts were full of courage. In earlier years they 
may have had spiritual conflicts ; but now their kindly, cheerful 
faces, and all their external bearing told of the peace of God 
that reigned within. They were thoroughly possessed of the 
spirit of rt'orship. One of them at least seldom or never entered 
the house of God without pausing for a moment, after passing 
the door of the auditorium, and lifting his eye heavenward, as if 
he were saying : "This is none other than the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven." And immediately upon entering 
his pew he bowed his head in silent ]irayer. The devoutness of 
those aged and venerable deacons was not official, not assumed 
nor formal ; it was in the heart, and therefore in the life. They 
were men of lordly will, but in the presence of God they had the 
spirit of little children. . . . Those members of that church 
session did not seek i)ersonaI influence, it was theirs before they 
knew it. But they shrunk from no obligation, were faithful to 
every trust, and lived in humble but joyful hope of the promised 
inheritance of the saints in heaven. 

The First Church has been one of the strong- 
est in the denomination. At a sacrament in 1734, 
fifteen years after the settlement of the town, 700 
communicants were present. This number, how- 
ever, must iiave included many non-resident mem- 
bers and friends. Several other congregations 
have been formed from the parent ciuirch. In 
1 739 a company was dismissed to constitute the 
West Parish (Presbyterian) in Londonderry. In 
1797 the Third Society (Congregational) was or- 
ganized in the East Parish, and in 1837 forty more 
were dismissed to form the First Congregational 
Church in Derry Village. In 1809, however, the 
Third Society re-united with the mother church, 
forming what is now known as the First Church 
in Derry. June 8, 18 10, the joint society formally 
adopted articles of faith, which, in spite of all 
theological upheavals of the last half-century, are 
still the creed of the church. Their reproduction 
here, in view of the current discussion of creeds, 
may not be without interest : 

I. We believe that there is but one God, the sole creator, 
preserver, and moral governor of the universe ; a being of infinite 
power, knowledge, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth ; the 
self- existent, independent and unchangeable fountain of good ; 
that there are in the unity of the Godhead a trinity of persons, 
Father, .Son, and Holy Ghost; that these three persons are in 
essence one, and in all divine attributes equal. 

II. We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament were given by inspiration of God ; that they are 
profitable for doctrine, contain a complete and harmonious s\s- 



tem of divine truth, and are our only perfect rule of doctrinal 
belief and religious practice. 

III. We believe that the first parents of our race were orig- 
inally holy in the image of God ; that they fell from their 
original state by voluntarily transgressing the divine command ; 
and that in consequence of this first apostacy the heart of man 
in his natural state is enmity against God, fully set to do evil, 
dead in trespasses and sins. 

IV. We believe that Christ the Son of God, equal with the 
Father, has by his obedience, suffering, and blood, made infinite 
atonement for sin ; that he is the only redeemer of sinners, and 
that all who are saved will be indebted altogether to the 
sovereign grace of God through this atonement. 

V. We believe that those who embrace the gospel were 
chosen in Christ to salvation before the world began ; and that 
they are saved not by works of righteousness which they have 
done, but according to the distinguishing mercy of God, by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. 

VI. We believe that for those who once believe in Christ 
there is no condemnation, but they will be kept by the mighty 
power of God through faith unto salvation. 

VII. We believe that there will be a general resurrection 
of the bodies both of the just and of the unjust ; that all mankind 
must one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to 
receive a sentence of just and final retribution, according to 
their respective works. 

VIII. We believe that Christ has a visible church in the 
world into which believers and their seed are introduced by 
baptism. 

During the forty years' pastorate of Rev. 
Edward L. Parker (a sketch of whose life is given 
in this work), the church was unusually prosper- 
ous. At the January communion in 1825, thirty- 
six were added to the church; in October, 1831, 
thirty-three were received, and in May, 1838, 
ninety-six. Since the death of Mr. Parker, in 
1850, the pastorates have been brief, compared 
with his. Six of the pastors repose in the old 
graveyard near the meeting-house, surrounded by 
most of their flocks. The chronological record of 
pastorates of the first church is as follows: James 
MacGregor, began May, 1719; died March 5, 1729. 
Matthew Clark, began 1729; closed 1732. Thomas 
Thompson, ordained October, i ']2,}, ; died Sept. 
22, 1738. William Davidson, ordained 1739; died 
Feb. 15, 1791. Jonathan Brown, ordained 1795; 
dismissed September, 1804. Edward L. Parker, 
ordained Sept. 12, 1810; died July 14, 1850. 
Joshua W. Wellman, ordained June 18, 1851 ; dis- 
missed May 26, 1856. Ephraim N. Hidden (acting 
pastor), Sept. i, 1857, till Dec. i, 1859. Leonard 
S. Parker, iiistalled Feb. 20, 1861 ; dismissed June 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



145 



JO, 1S69. David Bremner, installed April 27, 
1871 ; dismissed Sept. 10, 1873. Edward S. Hunt- 
ress, installed Feb. 25, 1875; dismissed Feb. 21, 
1877. J. L. Harris, installed July 8, 1880; dis- 
missed July 8, 1882. H. M. Penniman, settled April 
8, 1884; dismissed June 19, 1889. R. C. Drisko 
(aetino; pastor), Feb. i, 1891, till April i, 1894. The 
present membership of the ehureh is 132 ; Sabbath 
school, sixty-five; Christian Endeavor, thirty-five. 





MRS. .\1ARY J. TENNEY, OEN. S'1'ARK.'S CRANDDAUGHTER. 
Photographed at lier home in Londouderry, I»9^. 



REV. WILLIAM McDonald, the pioneer 
Catholic priest of Manchester, who laid well 
the foundations of the present prosperity of Cath- 
olicity in the Queen City, and whose memory is 
held in lovino; regard by thousands, was born in 
county Leitrim, Ireland, in June, 1813. He was 
the youngest son of John and Winifred (Reynolds) 
McDonakl, and the first twenty-three years of his 
life were spent with his parents. In 1836 he went 
to Quebec, beginning at once his studies at the 
Laval University. He took the academic and 
theological courses. He was ordained in 1843 and 
assigned as assistant to the parish priest at St. 
John, N. B., having charge subsequently of the 
[parishes at Eastport and Calais, Me. In 1847 he 
went to Boston, and in the following year was 
assigned to Manchester by Bishop Fitzpatrick of 
Boston, to which diocese New Hampshire then 
belonged. Father McDonald found on his arrival 
about five hundred Catholics, almost all of whom 
were Irish, but lately arrived in the country. They 
were very poor, but they extended to their "sog- 
garth " an Irish welcome, sincere and hearty, and 
pastor and people with a united purpose began 
their arduous task of building up the Catholic 
Cliurch of Manchester. Withm a year he had 
begun the erection of St. Anne's church, on the 
Mte it now occupies, and from that time to his 
death there was scarcely a year that he did not 
inaugurate some improvement of lasting benefit to 
the church. He was a man of remarkable fore- 
sight, and had unlimited confidence in the future 
(.rManchester — so much so that he early began 
to buy land intended for future use as church 
property, and to this is due the fact that the church 
is now possessed of so much valuable real estate. 
In 185^, he purchased St. Joseph's cemetery, and in 
1855 he bought the land where the convent stands, 
Uuilt the beautiful Mt. St. Marv's. and, two years 
later, installed therein a small band of Sisters of 
Mercy. In 1859 he secured the property at the 
northwest corner of Laurel and Union streets, for 
a parochial school for girls, and established in the 
same vear a school for boys in the church base- 
ment, 'over 'which he placed Prof. Thomas Cor- 
coran as principal and the Sisters of Mercy as 
teachers. A few years later he procured the use 
of the old " south grammar " of the city, and to 



146 



WJLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



this huilclina: the boys' school was removed nnd 
became known as the Park-street grammar school. 
This was one of the first parochial schools in New 
England. Father McDonald bought the present 
site of St. Joseph's Cathedral, established a new 
parish and built St. Joseph's church in 1869. The 
next year witnessed the purchase of the Harris 
estate, at the corner of Pine and Hanover streets, 
and the establishment of St. Patrick's Orphan 




REV. WILLIAM MCDONALD. 



Asylum for Girls. A little later he secured tlie ad- 
joining property and founded the Old Ladies' Home. 
He also built St. Agnes school, at the corner of 
Cedar and Union streets. He was the founder 
and promoter of the St. John's Temperance 
Society (since merged in the St. Paul's C. T. A. 
and M. B. Society), of St. Patrick's M. B. and P. 
Society, and of numerous church sodalities and 
associations. 

In Father McDonald were combined the 
elements of which the most successful professional 
and business men are made, and there is little 
doubt that, had he chosen a mercantile or profes- 
sional life, he would have become a very wealthy 



man. As it was, he died poor. He did not care 
for the wealth he gathered except as it was a 
means of doing good. 

He was stricken with apoplexy early Monday 
morning, Aug. 24, 1885, and died Aug. 26. The 
mourning at his death was genuine and universal. 
Protestants and Catholics alike, rich and poor, 
high and low, recognized that Manchester had lost 
one whom she could ill afford to lose. Saturday, 
Aug. 29, the day of his funeral, was a day of public 
mourning. The mills were closed, and business 
generally was suspended. The funeral was at- 
tended by the mayor and city government, judges 
of the supreme court of New Hampshire and of 
the United States district court, Protestant minis- 
ters, bishops and priests from all parts of New 
England, and business men of every creed and 
race. Pontifical requiem mass was celebrated by 
Rt. Rev. Bishop Bradley, assisted by a host of 
priests in sanctuary and choir. In the course of 
his sermon Bishop Bradley said : " I have lost one 
who has been to me from my childhood a father, 
a model, a wise counsellor," and he echoed the 
thoughts and feelings of everv Catholic born or 
bred in Manchester. Father McDonald was 
buried in the churchyard of old St. Anne's, the 
church he Icjved, and wherein he ministered for 
nearly forty years. Over his grave has been 
erected a little chapel, and here one may find at 
any hour of the day some of his people kneeling 
in silent praver. 

His life work was a success. He lived to see 
the city of his adoption grow from scarcely more 
than a hamlet to be the first municipality of north- 
ern New England. From the poor, struggling 
little parish of St. Anne's he saw the church in- 
crease until it had more communicants and main- 
tained more charitable institutions tlian all the 
other churches of the city combined ; and, to crown 
it all, made a diocesan see, and one of " his own 
boys" chosen its first bishop. He was the friend 
and confidant of his whole parish. No undertak- 
ing was entered into without the advice of Father 
" Mac," and no case was too trivial to enlist his 
earnest attention and secure his wholesome advice. 
He was judge, jury, and advocate in the trial of 
many a cause, and never was a judgment given 
with more binding force, or one where the parties 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



147 



were not satisfied as to the absolute impartiality of 
the tribunal. His charity was not 

" — scrimjjed and iced, 
In the name of a cautious, statistical Clirist," 

hut was the natural outpouring of a srencrous, 
sympathetic heart that knew no creed or race. 
He saw only iieedy suffering, and suffered himself 
if he could not alleviate. 

Father McDonald is best remembered as a 
man in declining years, about medium height, 
slightly stooped, with white hair and a kindly, 
benevolent face that at once inspired confidence. 
Through his old-fashioned bowed spectacles gazed 
a pair of eyes, anxious, one would say, to see 
nought of sin and misery in the world, and yet 
they saw and appreciated everything within 
their range, while an occasional twinkle in the 



corners would indicate that " though a priest, he 
was an Irishman too," and had all the Irishman's 
love for bright repartee or good story. The best 
evidence of his universal acquaintance and popu- 
larity was to be seen by accompanying him on one 
of his daily strolls through his parish. With the 
regulation clerical coat and collar he always wore 
a soft broad-brimmed hat and carried a cane or 
umbrella. He walked along with a slow, deliber- 
ate stride, and scarcely a person would be met but 
Father " Mac " had a word with him. His intimate 
acquaintance with the personal affairs of nearly 
everv family made these little talks pertinent and 
to the point, relative to some matter or other of 
importance. And all in the sweetest of English, 
that is, slightly tinctured with the Irish brogue. 
Father McDonald's memory will ever be dear to 
the Catholics of Manchester. 

James A. Bk(;i)Erici<.. 




Cri'Y I.IIiRARV, .MANCHESTER. 



DR. WILLIAM WHITTIER BROWN. 

WILLIAM WHITTIER BROWN, M. D., for which he mi^ht easily have obtained a per- 

was born in Vershire, Vt., in 1805. manent pension, but he never applied for it. He 

His education was obtained at the academies of was appointed pension surgeon, a position which 

Bradford and Randolph in his native state and at he held only a short time. Dartmouth College 

Hudson, N. Y. He taught school for two years conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. 

in the latter state, and at the age of twenty-three in recognition of his professional ability. He was 

began the study of medicine with Dr. John Poole a member of the Franklin-Street Congregational 

at Bradford, Vt. After attending lectures at church, and always contributed liberally to the 

Hanover he was graduated from the New Hamp- support of religion. Dr. Brown was elected a 

shire Medical Institution in 1830, and at once went fellow of the New Hampshire Medical Society in 

in Poplin (now Fremont), N. H., remaining there 1836, and was chosen its president in 1869. He 

until 1835, when he removed to Chester, where was a director of the First National bank, a trustee 

during his ten years' residence he built up an ex- of the Merrimack River Savings bank, a member 

tensive practice and enjoyed the confidence of the of the Washington Lodge of Masons and of Louis 

people. Desirous of supplementing his early ad- Bell Post No. 3, G. A. R. He survived all his 

vantages by further study, he went to New York children, leaving onlv a widow, Mrs. Martha W. 

in 1S45 and attended a course of lectures and dili- Brown. His death occurred Jan. 6, 1874, at the 

gently followed the best clinical teachers through age of sixty-eight years. He was a man of few 

the hospitals. His fifteen years' practice had words, easily approached, yet retiring ; ready to im- 

revealed to him his deficiencies, and he labored jxut information, yet never volunteering it; modest, 

zealously to remove them, finally returning to New vet self-possessed ; dignified in bearing, vet utterly 

Hampshire with his mind well stored with new devoid of ostentation in dress or mode of living, 

ideas and all the recent improvements in surgery He was remarkably even-tempered, never hilarious 

and practice. In 1846 he moved to Manchester and never much depressed; always hopeful and 

and soon had all he could do, manv of his former cheerful. His temperament was no doubt sacklenecl 

jiatients in Chester and the neighboring towns by the severe domestic afflictions through whicli he 

having gone to the city before him, and many passed. His memory is cherished in affectionate 

more still insisting that he should be their reliance regard hv all who knew him, for he left behind 

in distress. To meet these demands of iiis old him the exanii)le of a true Christian jihvsician and 

friends he was obliged to start very early in the upright man. 

morning in order to be l)ack in time for his dav's 

work in the city. Very few men could have F^EER, BEARS, AND WOLVES were aiiun- 

entiured these long journeys in all kinds of weather L/ dant in the forests of Nutfield. A large 

as he did, uneom])laininglv even in advanced life, moose killed in 1720 in the West Parish gave 

During portions of 1849 and 1850 he was in name to a hill there five hundred feet high. Game 

California for one vear practising his profession, wardens were elected by the town for more than 

He returned with a handsome amount of money, sixty years, " to prevent the killing of deer out of 

which he invested in Manchester real estate, erect- season." Until after the Revolution, farmers 

ing the brick block on Elm street, known as brought their sheep every night to the told to 

Brown's building. In 1861 he was appointed sur- guard against the depredations of wolves, and boun- 

geon of the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers tics were paid on wolves' heads. Tradition says 

and served until the autumn of 1864, when he was that the last bear seen was in 1807, when there 

obliged to resign on account of ill health. He was a great bear hunt, engaged in by fifty men for 

was exceedingly popular with officers and men and three days, until the animal was finally killed. He 

a camp was named in his honor. He never fully is said to have weighed two hundred pounds 

recovered his health, and he also received an injury dressed, and the capture was duly celebrated. 

1 48 




"t/'^yyvffjr/)'U^v-i^-i^ 





r^-^^U^ 



COL. JOHN B. CLARKE, 



lOllN BADCilCR CLARKE was born in 
J Atkinson Jan. 30, 1820, and was one of a 
family that has been illustrious in New Hampshire. 
His parents were intellitjent and successful farmers, 
and from them he inherited the robust constitu- 
tion, the ycnial disposition, and the capacity for 
brain work wliich carried him to the head of his 
profession in New Hampshire. They also fur- 
nished him with the small amount of money 
necessary to give a boy an education in those days, 
and in due course he graduated with high honors 
at Dartmouth College in the class of 1843. Then 
he became principal of the Meredith Bridge 
Academy, which position he held three years, 
reading law meanwhile. In 1848 he was admitted 
to the Hillsborough county bar from the office of 
his brother, at Manchester, Hon. William C. 
Clarke, attorney general of New Hampshire, and 
the next year went to California, roughing it in 
the mines and prospecting for a permanent liusi- 
ness and location in California, Central America, 
and Mexico. 

In 185 I he returned to Manchester and estab- 
lished himself as a lawyer, gaining in a few months 
a practice which gave him a living ; but in October 
of the next year the sale of The Mirror offered an 
opening more suited to his talents and ambition, 
and having bought the property he thenceforth 
devoted himself to its development. He had no 
newspaper experience and little money, but he had 
confidence in himself, enthusiasm, energy, good 
judgment, and a willingness to work early and late 
for the success he was determined to achieve. For 
months he was editor, reporter, business manager, 
solicitor, collector, and bookkeeper for The Mirror 
establishment, and in these capacities he did a vast 
amount of work, which was so well directed that 
it carried him steadily along toward the goal he 
had resolved to reach. Every year added to the 
number of his patrons and the \t)lume and profit 
of his business, until The Mirror had a larger 
circulation and exerted a wider influence than any 
other paper of its class in New England, and was 
l)y far the most valuable newspaper property in 
New Hampshire. When he bought it, for less 
than a thousand dollars, in 1852, the circulation of 



the weekly and daily combined was only nine 
hundred copies. When he died, forty years later, 
it was sent regularly to more than forty thousand 
subscribers, and its gross income was more than 
twice as much every week as the original purchase 
price. The Mirror, as he left it, was entirely his. 
From the first he had been its owner, manager, and 
controlling spirit. It always reflected his views; 
it moved as his judgment dictated; and in spite of 
sharp rivalry, business depressions, and other 
obstacles, it made advances every season and 
reflected more and more strikingly the pluck, 
push, and perseverance, the courage, sagacity and 
industry of John B. Clarke. He succeeded by 
keeping abreast of the times, by being steadfastly 
loyal to his state, his city, and his friends, and by 
responding to every reasonable demand of his 
patrons. His motto was " One Better," and every 
volume of The Mirror was evidence that he was 
true to it. 

In making the paper successful al)ove all 
competitors, he made more money than any other 
Manchester man of his time who was engaged in 
a private business and had only his own capital to 
use; but if he gathered like one born to be a mil- 
lionaire, he scattered like one whom only rare 
capacity for getting would save from being a 
prodigal. He was a free giver and a good liver. 
He valued money only for what it would bring. 
He turned no one away who asked help for a cause 
that commended itself to him. He bought what- 
ever he wanted, as he thought his family or friends 
needed. His home was the home of luxury and 
comfort. His farm was the place where costly 
experiments were tried. He was passionately fond 
of horses and dogs, and his stables and kennels 
were always filled with choice and costly specimens. 
He attended closely to business and always 
declined to be a candidate for |nd)lic office ; but 
the Republican party, of which he was a stalwart 
member after the fall of Sumter, elected him a 
delegate to the Baltimore convention that nomi- 
nated Abraham Lincoln for the second time to 
the presidency, and he was one one of the national 
committee of seven (including ex-Gov. Claflin of 
Massachusetts, ex-Gov. Marcus L, Ward of New 

'53 



154 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



Jersey, and Hon. Henry J. Raymond of the New 
York Times) who managed that campaign. The 
Franklin Street Congregational church, with which 
he worshipped, the community whose welfare he 
always had at heart, and the wide circle of friends 
to whom he was devoted, looked to him for coun- 
sel and generally followed his advice. He sought 
neither governorships nor senatorships. He was 
satisfied with selecting governors and senators and 
shaping and defending policies. He never wearied 
of working to promote the interests of Manchester, 
and its rapid and healthy growth during his active 
life was largely due to him. 

He was a devoted friend of education. The 
Clarke prizes for excellence in elocution at Dart- 
mouth College and in the public schools of Man- 
chester were established by him, and in manv 
other ways he contributed freely to the usefulness 
of these and similar institutions. 

He was a sturdy and zealous champion of 
the farmers, who were in turn his stoutest friends, 
and he lost no opportunity to advance their inter- 
ests, especially in the line of breeding fine stock. 



He was an enthusiastic sportsman and a believer 
in the policy of protecting the fish and game of 
the state, and propagating in our lakes and rivers 
such valuable food fish as would thrive there. 
With this in mind he organized the State Fish and 
Game League, of which he was the president. 

Physically Colonel Clarke was a fine specimen 
of robust manhood. He was tall, erect, portly, 
broad-shouldered, and enjoyed excellent health. 
He was the best of companions and the truest of 
friends, a brilliant conversationalist, a good story 
teller and a patient and intelligent listener, a 
gentleman everywhere, and one of the people 
always. He died Oct. 29, 1891, after an illness of 
a few days, deeplv and widely mourned and univer- 
sally respected. 

Mr. Clarke married, July 29, 1852, Susan 
Greeley Moulton of Gilmanton, who died in 1S85. 
Subsequently he married Olive Rand, who survives 
him. His sons, Arthur E. (see page 157) and 
William C. (see page 121), and his widow suc- 
ceeded to the ownership and management of The 
Mirror, which they still retain. 




CLARK & KIMBALL FLATS, CHESTNUT STREET. 



i 



. ,-r**^'*?!?? 



V 





COL. ARTHUR EASTMAN CLARKE. 

COL. ARTHUR EASTMvYN CLARKE, the board of trade, and a director of the Northern 
son of John B. and Susan (Moulton) Chirke, Telegraph Company. From his school days Col. 
was horn in Manchester May 13, 1854. Graduat- Clarke has been an enthusiastic student of elocu- 
ino- from Dartmouth in 1875, he entered the tion, and has attained conspicuous distinction in 
Mirror office in the fall of that year to familiarize reading and reciting, carrying off high honors at 
himself with all branches of newspaper work. Phillips Academy and at Dartmouth College. 
After mastering the details of the composing and He has gratuitously drilled a number of pupils of 
press rooms he acquired further experience in the the Manchester public schools who have won first 
job department and in reading proof. He then prizes in the annual speaking contests. He gives 
became city editor of the Mirror, and for a number prizes yearly for excellence in elocution to the 
of years did all the local work alone, subsequently schools of Hooksett, and is often invited to judge 
with an assistant. Later he assumed the duties of prize speaking contests at educational institutions, 
general, state news, and review editor, remaining Ever since becoming associated with the Mirror 
in this position several years, and then taking he has had charge of its dramatic and musical 
charge of the agricultural department and other departments, and enjoys a wide personal acquaint- 
features of the Mirror and Farmer, assisting at the ance with noted actors and actresses. He has 
same time in the editorial, rcportorial, and business written some most interesting and valuable inter- 
departments of the Daily Mirror. For four years views with many distinguished players wiiich have 
lie was the legislative reporter of the paper at been extensively copied by the press of the country. 
Concord, and for one year he served as telegraph Denman Thompson received from Col. Clarke's 
editor. In these various capacities he acquired an pen the first noticeably long, analytical, and com- 
all-Kiund experience such as few newspaper men i>limentary criticism of his work that was ever 
possess, and it has stood him in good stead, for vouchsafed to this eminent actor. It was given 
ujion his father's death he became the manager of when Mr. Thompson was an obscure member of 
i>oth papers and of the job printing and book- a variety company. 

binthng liusiness connected with the establishment, Mr. Clarke has always been fond of athletic 

and has since conducted most successfullv the sports, and has won distinction in many lines. He 

extensive concerns of the office, besides doing organized and captained a picked team of ball 

almost daily work with his pen for both papers, players in Manchester that defeated the best club 

Mr. Clarke has inherited his father's energy, great in the State for a prize of $100. The longest hit 

capacity for work, and executive ability. He has made on the old West Manchester baseball 

been a member of the Manchester common coun- grounds was made bv Mr. Clarke, the ball going 

cil : has represented Ward 3 in the legislature ; was over the left field fence. In a game at the North 

adjutant of the Fust Regiment, N. H. N. Ci., for a End fair grounds he made three home runs. He 

number of years ; was agricultural statistician for is one of the finest skaters, both roller and ice, in 

New Hampshire during Garlield's ailministration ; New Hampshire. With a shot gun, rifle, and 

was colonel on (iov. Tuttle's staff' ; is president of revolver he is quite an expert, and holds a record 

the New Hampshire Press Association and the New of thirty-eight clay pigeons broken t)Ut of forty in 

Hami)shire member of the executive committee of the days of the Manchester Shot)ting Cluli, a score 

the National Press Association; is a member of that was not equalled by Manchester marksmen, 

the Boston Press Club, of the Algon(|uin Club llehcklthc billiard championshij) of Dartmouth 

(Boston),of the Manchester Press Club, of the Coon College, and upon his return to Manchester in 

Club, of the Calumet Club of Manchester, and of 187.5 .defeated the best players in the city, winning 

the Amoskeag Grange. He is Past Exalted Ruler of substantial prizes. He is a devotee of hunting and 
the Manchester Lodge of Elks, ex-president of the 'fishing, lias jnnsued manv piiases of the sport with 

Derryfield Club, a member of the Manchester great success, and no angler in Manchester 

157 



158 



WlLLBrS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



has probably taken so many large trout as he has 
during the past ten years. He owns four hunting 
dogs, in the company of which in fall and winter 
he maintains the superb health and robustness that 
have always characterized him. 

Col. Clarke conducts the Mirror farm, located 
just outside the city limits, and here experiments 
in man)^ directions are tried under his supervision. 
The largest strawberries ever raised in Manchester 
have been grown at the Mirror farm, and on one 
field there in the season of 1895 over four and one 
half tons of hay were cut to the acre on the first crop. 

The whole management of the Mirror office 
and its immense responsibilities rest upon him, and 
his personal attention covers every detail. He 
disposes of work with great ease and rapidity, and 
no obstacle ever daunts him. Col. Clarke has 



travelled abroad extensivelv, and has embodied his 
i mpressions of foreign lands in a most interesting 
book entitled: "European Travels." Jan. 25, 
I 893, he was married to Mrs. Jacob G. Cilley of 
Cambridge, Mass. 

Mr. Clarke is a member of the Franklin- 
Street Societv (Congregational), and is rarely 
absent from the Sunday morning service. He 
was chairman of the committee that selected 
the present pastor, Rev. B. W. Lockhart. He 
is a member of the committee that has charge 
of the choir singmg, and is one of the gentle- 
men who have so successfully managed the ves- 
per services at this church, which have proved 
so popular. He liberally supports the work of 
the church. He is a member of the Franklin- 
Street Young Men's Association. 




COL. ARTHUR E. CLARKE S RESIDENCE, 



THE EAYERS RANGE, 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY. 



THE prominence of the range feature in the two ranges were called the Double Range on the 

original settlement of the nut country was west side of Beaver river, thus distinguished from 

largely due to the clannish character of the people, the Double Range on the east side of Beaver 

Families connected by marriages and common river. 

sentiments and opinions found it convenient and The headlines of these farms extended north 
agreeable to dwell together along some fertile of northwest and south of southeast, and the 
slope or stream, and to facilitate communication longest or side lines extended east of northeast 
adopted the plan of parallel homesteads, long and and west of southwest. The ranges are never 
narrow, with a highway only across the common described as touching each other and in many 
residence ends, while the opposite ends remained places unappropriated land was left to raise inter- 
uncultivated and covered with forests and swamps minable disputes and claims of ownership. This is 
still occupied by bears and wolves. notable on the westerly side of the Eayers Range, 
The Double Range, the English Range, and where there was much swamp, and the next range 
the Aikens Range were not more prominent than began beyond the swamp. The change of direc- 
the Eayers Range in respect to the dates of their tion in the westerly headline is the source of end- 
settlement or the character of the people who less complications in surveying lots, as also the 
formed and named them. An examination of the merging of the Aikens Range and Eayers Range 
old Proprietors' Book will convince the reader on the north, their side lines having different 
that families occupied these lands before any name directions. 

had been given, or any steps taken to build a town- As this range eventually became known as 

ship here, and even the name of Nutfield cannot the Eayers Range by reason of the prominence of 

be claimed as the earliest applied title to any por- William Eayers and his familv here and in other 

tion ot the territory. Dunstable is an older name parts of this township, a copv of the record of the 

that was applied to many thousand acres including la\'ing out of his homestead is herewith given: 
all that was afterward known as Nutfield, and only 

relinquished when the boundary between the Nutfield October u-" 1720. Laid out to William Eayers a 

r -NT TT 1 • 1 Tv/r 1 ^.^ 'ot of land in the west ranare in the said town containinc; sixty 

provmces 01 New Hampshne and Massachusetts r , . j • , > , r n < , • • . 

' , . '^ . acres of land and is bounded as followeth: beginning at a pine 

was hnally established. The transcript of the tree at the northeast corner and a heap of stones, from thence 

laying out of these homesteads shows the process running a due west-south-west line three hundred and twenty 

of naming the ranges was less rapid than the rods and bounding all the way upon John Givean's lot, from 

settlement Nearlv all of the Eavers Rano'C thence running south-south-east thirty rods and so running two 

1 1. A 1' -1 J 1 • ■ ^i -«x7 ^ i3arallel lines to these lines first mentioned bounding upon 

homesteads were described as ivino- in the West ' , _, ,_, ,,., , ., .''. 
. - ■ .1 homas Boyle and hdward Aiken, together with an interest in 

Range, m reference to the fact that the Aikens j],^ common or undivided lands within the said township eipial 

Range joined it on the east, and for a time these to other lots in said town. David Cargill, James McKeen, 

159 




MAP OK THE EAVERS RANGE. 



M'/L LET'S BOOK OF NUTFTELD. 



[allies Gregg, Robert Wear, John Morrison. John Goffe, Com- 
mittee. Recorded this ii"' of ( )<-tohor 1720. 

I'r. John Goffe, 

Toiun Clcik. 

The identification of this man's homestead 
and residence may be of interest to the reader and 
especially to a numerous line of descendants who 
have ijiven their names to many important enter- 
prises since the settlement of the Eayers Ran_a:e. 
Therefore some further comments are made upon 
the e.xact location of William Eayers and the 
house in which he lived. In passing to the means 
of identification it is also to be noted that the 
orthography of the surname is original and has 
since been changed into Ayers. The roads leading 
bv the dwellings of this range were private for 
several vears under the constructive era while the 
township was still known as Nutfield ; but soon 
after the charter was granted and the name of 
Londonderry therein established, corporate action 
laid out the highways. The following will serve 
as an example and be recognized as a present 
thoroughfare : 

Londonderry November 6"' 1723. Laid out by the select- 
men a straight road beginning at the northwest side of David 
Morrison's homestead lot and running southeast across the 
brook on the south side of said Morrison's field between two 
great rocks and by marked trees across Samuel Morrison's lot 
and .^bram Holmes' lot and on the west of Jolin Woodburn's 
field, across the said Woodburn's lot, and then turning a little 
more easterly over a little run and so to the highway that comes 
from Edward Aikens, and then turning over the bridge and 
taking the line between William Eayers and James Craig's lots 
to the cross road that turns by Mr. Eayer's house and David 
Boyle's and to the east of John McClurg's cellar and through 
the second divisions, the said straight road to be four rods wide 
where it crosses their lots and where it runs along lots two rods 
wide. Samuel Moore, John Blair, Benjamin Wilson, Robert 
Boyes, Selectmen. Recorded this 13"' day of December 1723. 

Pr. John MacMurphv, 

'I'cnvn Ckik. 

This direct road here recorded began on the 
north side of the farm lately occupied by James 
McMurphy and passed by his house and over the 
Aiken brook, and now over the railroad bridge and 
across the farm of Alexander McMurphy and 
over the spring brook between the lots of Daniel 
Owens and John Duffy into the road that comes 
from John Folsom's house, and then turning west- 



ward passes again over the Aiken brook on the 
line between John Duffy and the Corthells to a 
cross road that o'nce passed along near the Aiken 
brook through the Morrisons', Holmes' and Wood- 
burn's lots, to accommodate several families that 
lived by the brook, their old cellar walls and cool, 
clear well springs being still visible. At William 
Eayers's house the road leads southerly, that is, 
by Mrs. Corthell's present home, and then by 
George Ripley's house, the old Boyles lot, and 
continuing liy the late homes of Peter Home and 
Robert Jeffers. 

Abram Holmes very early sold his original 
homestead and settled on other lands where the 
family continued to occupy without interruption 
until the present generation. John Woodburn 
also complained of his land and was granted the 
privilege of taking a homestead in some other sec- 
tion of the township, and after several trials located 
in the western part of the town near Dunstable 
line with others, forming a new range. 

A reference to the brief genealogical history 
of the early settlers contained in the work of Rev. 
Edward L. Parker will show these families along 
the Aiken brook to have been closely related by 
marriages. The Woodburn lot was never fenced 
off, but came to be common with the Craig lot on 
the south, and the two lots are united loneitudi- 
nally to be divided transversely into three or more 
portions owned by Daniel Owens, John Duffy, 
James Madden, and Alexander McMurphy. James 
Smith was not one of the scheduled proprietors of 
the town of Londonderry, but records of births in 
his family are given and they are previous to the 
time of alleged settlement, before the date of the 
royal charter or even the deed of Col. John 
Wheelwright. The James Smith lot came into 
the possession of the Pinkerton family; tiiere the 
worthy founder of Pinkerton Academy and liberal 
benefactor of the two religious societies of his gen- 
eration lived and died. Thirty-one thousand 
dollarr in those days meant persistent industry and 
habitual economy, and those endowments signified 
mature convictions and determination to sacrifice 
himself and consecrate the fruits of his labors to 
the highest good of his countrymen. 

Robert McKeen's lot of forty acres was laid 
out bounding upon land of James Smith, and men- 



WiLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



tion is also made in tlie record of a highway lead- 
ing from the Aikens Range to Canada and passing 
through his land. The Robert McKeen lot was 
not granted for a homestead, but a second division 
was made, the same in amount that was laid out to 
every proprietor of one full homestead of sixty 
acres. The stream of water that runs southward 
throuarh Robert McKeen's second division had 



together with a piece of meadow in Pole meadow bounded by 
stakes between the lots of John Woodburn and WiUiam Aiken : 
also a pond lying by the six acre meadow. David Cargill, John 
Bell, Allen Anderson, John Mitchell, Committee. Recorded 
this 28"' of February 1723-24. 

Pr. John MacMurphy, 

Tuwn Clerk. 



This transcript fullv illustrates the custom of 



been reserved for the use of a sawmill. The granting meadows independentlv of homestead 
privilege of the stream extended upwards upon the bounds or any right given by the plan of allot- 
banks as far as a 



spruce swamp. 
In this descrip- 
tion the reader 
may readily lo- 
cate the Aiken 
sawmill at a [loint 
recently occupied 
by Washington 
Perkins and des- 
ignated as the 
Whittier sawmill, 
and earlier still as 
the Wilson saw- 
mill. 'l"he forty 
acres laid out to 
the Rev. James 
McGregor as a 
second division 
were granted in 
part for a want 
of wood upon the 
lot assigned to 
him as a home- 
stead. This is 
and alwavs has 
been a wooded 

tract of land, but in the years when the Pages and by blazing trees by the roadside. And as in those 
the Spinneys lived there mucli of the land was in days the meeting with bears was a common occur- 
a good state of cultivation and there were flourish- rence, many traditions of such meetings arc found 
ing orchards and gardens. in the mcinories of old people. The Morrisons 

In order to show the manner of describing remained in possession of their lands in the Eayers 
meadows granted to the early settlers, the tran- Range for several generations, but finally sold the 




POTAI'O FIELD, DERRY. 



ment. The mea- 
dow at Bear hill 
is still cut annual- 
ly and why the 
space remains 
free from other 
growths and re- 
s i s t s the en- 
croach ment of 
bushes and trees 
is not easily ex- 
plained. When 
David Morrison 
cut these mea- 
dows the whole 
count r )' w a s 
denselv covered 
with forests and 
even the high- 
ways that led 
from one part of 
the town to the 
other parts were 
through the wil- 
dcrness, where it 
was necessary to 
mark the course 



script of one is here presented : 

Londonderry July 23'' 1723. Laid out to David Morrison 
one acre and sixty rods of meadow, be it more or less, which 
lieth at Bear hill and is bounded on Samuel Morrison's lot by 
stakes and running down the creek to the meadow bounds ; 



homesteads, and either removed to other towns or 
occupied their second divisions and amendment 
lands. For a more particular history of these move- 
ments the reader is referred to the History of the 
Morrison Family, published by Leonard Morrison. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



163 



John McClursi's cellar wall is said to have They appear to have selected lots with reference 
hecn recently visible near the house of Warren to possibilities of constructing dams or raising 
P. Home, a little to the northwest by the upper mill privileges on secondary streams where all the 
road. In other parts of the town John McClurg's really available streams had already been taken, 
name will be found associated with the possession The lands were not suitable for agricultural pur- 
of large tracts of land. James Alexander's home- poses by reason of the swamps and stones, and the 
stead was in the Double Range east of Beaver streams had not sufficient water to supply a pond, 
river and had a second division allowed to his right All of that swamp at the westerly end of the 
on the southerly side of the Eayers Range. It Eayers Range was watered by the Boyles brook 
shortlv became a 
homestead, as 
n e ar 1 \^ all the 
second divisions 
were needed to 
satisfy the de- 
mands for more 
land. Sons of 
pioneers reaching 
the ages of twen- 
tv-one required 
homesteads. 

In reference to 
the Wilson lot, 
originally laid out 
to James Wilson, 
there is a mar- 
ginal reading in 
the Town Rec- 
ords showing 
that James Wil- 
son died and one 
half of the lot 
was sold to John 
M c C 1 u r g and 
that became his 
projier half share 
according to the schedule. Oni 




HENRY S. WHEELER S BARN, DERRY. 



hal 



the re- vard. 



and 



meanderint 



that crosses the 
road west of 
George Crispen's 
house and crosses 
another road 
west of the Elas 
house, at that 
point beyond and 
out of the range. 
However, the 
Boyles brook car- 
ried a wheel to 
operate a fulling 
mill right above 
the road at the 
Elas. About a 
mile west of this 
Bovles brook is 
another section of 
countr\- marked 
with similar con- 
ditions, and a 
Boyles brook 
runs throuofh it 
just west of the 
Shiplev or Lon- 
donderry grave, 
through Boyles mea- 



mainder was granted to Elizabeth Wilson, the dows and numerous other claims, crosses the 

widow of James, and the other fourth to her road west of Charles McAllester's place and so 

daughter, Mary Wilson. At this time the Aiken on to join the waters of the more favored Beaver 

brook, as it passed through the Wilson and Mc- river. 

Clurg lands, was merely a small stream that over- Samuel Aiken now owns the second division 

llowed some meadows above in the spring of each laid out to Uavid Morrison, or that portion of it 

year. The building of a dam and mills upon this upon which the buildings were placed. It must 

stream at this place occurred many years after the be borne in mind that forty acres were granted 

settlement of the Eayers Range. exclusive of the meadows, and consequently many 

David and Thomas Boyle left their surname more are now included in the boundary since 

upon many swamps, meadows, brooks, and places, the meadows have been purchased. Daniel Owens 



164 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



purchased the western half of this lot from the 
heirs of the late Abram McKenney. The Rankine 
meadow was originally granted for about four 
acres and bounded on this lot. Sydney Burbank 
occupies the easterly ends of two lots originally 
laid out to William Eayers and Thomas Boyle. 
It is not fifty years since the last Robert Craig and 
sisters lived on the lot granted for a homestead to 
John Givean and passed over to James Craig 
within three years, or before 1723. 

The Craig farm of one hundred and twenty 
acres, for it embraced the Woodburn lot, was 
rather distinguished from others by the many 
peculiar traits of the family and consequently the 
singular products raised upon the land. It is 
within the memory of some aged people to 
describe the habits of the old maids and unmarried 
brother, and the peculiar speech of these last scions 
of a venerable stock. The old maple trees of a 
large orchard that produced many thousand pounds 
of sugar were but recently cut down, and even 
now there are some remnants of hardy appearance. 
How many trips the old maids executed in the 
thawing spring months along those pasture paths 
among the maples to fetch home the buckets of 
sap ! The slope of that old orchard was favorable 
to the observations of those who lived to the north 
and eastward. The tending of sheep was another 
occupation of the maiden sisters, and it is reported 
that they were quite as timid as their flock, and 
were seldom seen at close range, but at the ap- 
proach of a man they vanished behind the rocks 
and trees and shyly came forth after the stranger 
nad disappeared. 



But ' Sue Loves Me and I Loves Sue ' is nather 
gud nor bad." 



A 



LFRED BOYD, the only son of William and 
Margaret (Holmes) Boyd, was horn in An- 
trim, Feb. 12, 181 7. His parents moved to Derry 
in 182 1, when his father bought what was then 




"THREE KINDS OF SONGS.— Rev. James 
•* McGregor had a fine sense of propriety, 
whether he had an ear for music or not. In con- 
versation one day with one of his parishioners on 
the subject of songs he remarked : " There is just 
three kinds of songs. There is the very gud^song, 
the very bad song, and the song that is nather bad 
nor gud. ' While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks 
by Night ' is a very gud song. ' Janic Stoops 
Down to Buckle Her Shoe ' is a very bad song. 



ALFRED BOYD. 



the Cheney farm, comprising most of the land 
where the Depot village now stands. Jan. 28, 
1S58, the son Alfred married Emma C. Corwin, 
daughter of John and Clarissa (Thompson) Corwin 
of Tunbridge, Vt. They had five children : John 
A., Fannie E., Sarah C, Clara M., and Everett W. 
Boyd. Mr. Boyd remained on the old farm until 
his death, which occurred Oct. 9, 1874. 



GEN. GEORGE REID. 



GEN. GEORGE REID, who aftrr Cxcn. Stark tions, to avenge the massacres of Wyoming and 

is the nK)St distinguished military son of Cherry Valley. During the summer of 1782 he was 

Nuffield, was born in Londonderry in 1733. His in command at Albany. In 1786 Gen. Reid was 

father was James Reid, who was one of the early appointed by Gen. Sullivan, then president of the 

settlers and selectmen of the town in that year, state, to command the military forces called out 

Of George Reid's earlv life but little is known, to suppress the rebellion which arose from the 

except that in 1757 he married Marv Woodburn, popular clamor for the issuance of paper money 



(laughter of John 
Woodburn by his first 
wife, Mary Boyd, and 
that he settled in Lon- 
(Kmderry. When the 
news of the battle of 
Lexington came, Reid 
was in commantl ol a 
companv of minute 
men. He immediatelv 
placed himself at the 
head of his company 
and marched to join 
the left wing of the 
American forces, un- 
der Gen. Stark, near 
Boston, and took part 
in the battle of Bun- 
ker Hill. His services 
in that engagement 
were recognized by 
the Continental Ct)n- 
gress, and on Jan. i, 
1776, he was commis- 
sioned to be captain 
of a company in the 
Fifth Resfiment of 




GEN. GEORGE REID. 



which should be re- 
ceivable as legal ten- 
der in payment of 
taxes and debts. Gen. 
Reid was in Exeter 
at the time, where the 
legislature was in ses- 
sion, and he led the 
troops against the in- 
surgents, who had re- 
tired a little out of 
the village. The insur- 
rection was suppressed 
without the loss of 
life, and the forty 
prisoners taken were 
discharged, " on their 
profession of sincere 
repentance," says the 
record. Londonderry 
liatl votetl in favor of 
a paper currency, yet 
those who took part 
in the insurrection 
and who were church 
members in the town 
were required by the 



infantry. From that time on his rise was rapid, churches to make a public acknowledgment of 
In 1777 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel; in the error into which they had been drawn. It 
1778, colonel; in 1783, colonel by brevet in the would be something of an anachronism nowadays 
army of the United States, and in 1 785, brigadier- to discipline a church member for being a green- 
general of the New Hampshire forces. He served backer or a bimetallist. Gen. Reid was appointed 
with valor and distinction in the battles of Long justice of the peace for Rockingham county in 
Island.White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, German- 1786, an office of dignity and consequence in 
town, Saratoga, and Stillwater, enjoying the fullest those days, and in 1791 he was appointed sheriff of 
confidence of Washington. He shared with the the county. He was a man of great courage and 
army all the hardships of the encampment at Valley sagacity. So intense was the feeling against him 
Forgein the winterof 1777, and was with Gen. Sulli- in his own county for the part he had taken in 
van on his famous expedition against the Six Na- suppressing the insurrection that his life and 

165 



i66 



U'TLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



property were threatened. On one occasion, when five chihlren : Caroline M., Sarah E., Mary A., 
an antjry crowd surrounded his house at niyht, he EHzalieth W., and Henrietta O. Mr. Wheeler 
appeared at the window fully armed and addressed was educated in the common schools and at Pep- 
the rioters who had come to take his life. His perell Academy and Pinkerton Academy. He 
coolness and the force of his words alone induced was formerly a school teacher in New Hampshire 
them to disperse without doing him harm. Gen. and in the West, and subsequently was clerk and 
Reid died in September, 1815, at the age of eighty- salesman in different places. In 1865 he was re- 
two years. His wife, a woman of rare endow- ceiving and shipping clerk in the commissary 
ments and of most interesting character, was well depot at Richmond, \'a., and the following year 
adapted to the 
circle in which 
she moved. With 
a strong and vig- 
orous intellect, a 
retentive m e m - 
ory, a cheerful 
disposition and 
great equanimity 
of temper, she 
exerted a power- 
ful and happ\' in- 
Huence over the 
more excitable 
and strong pas- 
sions of her hus- 
band, whose mili- 
t a r y life had 
served to give 
prom i n e n ce to 
those traits of 
character b v 
which he was dis- 
tinguished. Gen. 
Stark once said 
of her: " If there 
is a woman in 

New Hampshire fit to be governor, 'tis Mollv and has since been engaged in farming in Derry. 
Reid." Her half-brother, David Woodburn, was His official life may be summed up as follows: 
the maternal grandfather of Horace Greeley. Clerk in the commissary depot in Richmond, Va., 
Mrs. Reid died April 7, 1823, at the age of eighty- about one year; official in the treasury depart- 
eight years. ment, ten years; selectman in Derry, seven years ; 

representative in the legislature from Derry, four 
years, making twenty-two years in all. While in 
ITENRV SPAULDING WHEELER, son of the legislature he was one of the most earnest 
A -l Thaddeus and Caroline (Farrar) Wheeler, advocates of the bill to establish the town system 
was born in Pepperell, Mass., Oct. 9, 1S35. He of schools, and aided by his speech and vote in 
married, in 1877, Hannah Maria, daughter of securing its enactment. Mr. Wheeler has had a 
Joseph and Sarah A. (Stickney) White, and has pronounced talent for music from early boyhood. 




HENRY S. WHEELERS HOUSE. DERRY. 
Unce ilie home of Gen. George Reid. 



he received an 
appointment in 
the treasurv de- 
p a r t m e n t at 
Washington. He 
was detailed at 
different times to 
examine the of- 
fices of internal 
re ve n ue collec- 
tors in various 
states, including 
Massac h u setts, 
Vermont, New 
York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, 
Ohio, West Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Ar- 
kansas, Mississip- 
pi, Georgia, South 
Carolina, North 
Carolina, and Vir- 
ginia. Having 
overtaxed his 
strength, he re- 
signed in 1876 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



167 



lie tauoht siiiijino: school in the West, and has Manchester, N. H. In 1876 she united witli the 
sung tenor in ciiurcli choirs for nearly forty years, First Baptist Church of the last named place, 
including the First Methodist, the First Church, and in 1880, having received a letter of recom- 
the First Congregational, and the Baptist Church 
of Derry, and a Methodist church in Nashua, and 
was connected with the choir of the Calvarv Bap- 
tist Church of Washington, D. C, as tenor singer 
for ten 3'ears, being its chorister a part of the time. 
Having a sympathetic voice of ample volume, he has 
made himself useful in the praise service in church 
and Sundav school where\-er he has been located. 
Mr. Wheeler joined the Baptist Church in Orange, 
N. J., in 1863, since which time he has been active 
in church and Sundav school work while living in 
Oranoe, Washinyton, and Derrv. 





MRS. HENRY S. WHEELER. 



mendation fiom that church, she anil her hus- 
band united with twelve others to form the 
Baptist Church at Derry Depot, and they are 
amono; its most interested and loval members. 



/^RlS'i'MI 
^ of the 



ILLS were built in the Inst months 

Nutlicld settlement. The hrst one 

was probably that of Captain David Cargill, at the 

eastern extremity of Beaver pond, wdiich must 

have been built before the colonists had been a 

year in their new home. There is a reference to 

this mill in the town records, dated Feb. 13, 1720, 

when in speaking of the road on the north of the 

pond, running from Samuel Marshall's house to 

George McMurphy's, it says the road crosses the 

brook " below Captain Cargill's grist mill." In 

1722 Captain James Gregg built a gristmill in 

what is now Derry Village, possibly on the spot 

Mrs. Wheeler was born Jan. 9, 1853, in Derry. where W. W. Poor's mill now stands. In 1731 a mill 

Her education was received in the common privilege in Londonderry was granted to Benjamin 

schools and at Pinkerton Academy. She has Wilson, who built the first mill, since known at 

resided in Methuen and Haverhill. Mass., and in various times as Moor's, Goss's, and Kendall's mills, 



HENRY SPAULDING WHEELER. 



THE JAMES ROGERS FAMILY. 



TAMES ROGERS was born in Gloucester, 
<J Mass., March 31, 1833. He was named for 
and is the fifth in direct descent from James 
Rogers, one of the original " Proprietors of Lon- 
donderry," who settled on the English Range. 
This first James Rogers was a brave man, fond of 
adventure, and after getting well established in 
Londonderry he moved further into the wilderness 
and became one of the first settlers of the present 
town of Dunbarton. He was shot at night in the 
woods by a friend, who mistook him for a bear, and 
upon his eldest son, Robert, devolved the care of the 




MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS. 

large family. Robert Rogers, or " Rogers, the Ran- 
ger," as he was commonly called, subsequently be- 
came one of the most noted and heroic characters in 
New England. He was born in Londonderry in 
1727 and was twenty-two years old at the time of 
his father's death. The settlers in the Merrimack 
valley were being constantly harassed by the In- 
dians. It was a bloody and remorseless warfare, 
for the savages sought scalps, not captives. Young 
Rogers was appointed by the colonial government 
to the command of a corps of rangers then form- 
ing for active service against the French and 
Indians. John Stark was a member of this corps, 



which included some of the most intrepid men in 
the colonies. During the seven years' war which 
followed, Rogers was almost constantly in a posi- 
tion of great responsibility, difficulty, and danger, 
but his achievements were such that Lord Am- 
herst reported to the English government that 
" Major Rogers of the Colonial service has by his 
discretion and valor essentially contributed to the 
success of the royal arms." In marching the 
rangers preceded the main body of the army and 
were trained to attack or retreat with remarkable 
quickness. In fighting the Indian thev adojjted 
his mode of warfare and matched him in strategy. 
Their route was through dense and tangled woods, 
over hills and mountains and across rivers or 
swamps. But • mountains, rivers, and hidden foes 
were not the only obstacles with which they had 
to contend. Loaded with provisions for a whole 
month and carrying a musket far heavier than 
those of modern make, besides their blankets and 
ammunition, thev were compelled to bear the 
burden of a pack horse while doing tlie dutv of a 
soldier. Manv are the anecdotes of thrilling ad- 
venture and hairbreadth escape related of them. 
On one occasion Major Rogers and a small party 
of his rangers were surprised and nearly sur- 
roundetl by Indians on the shore of Lake George. 
Rogers had on snowshoes and succeeded in reach- 
ing the top of a high rock overhanging the lake. 
Throwing his haversack and other cumbrous 
articles over the precipice, he turned around in his 
snowshoes without moving their position on the 
ground, and having fastened them on so that the 
heel and toe were reversed, he descended to the 
lake by another path. When the Indians arrived 
at the top they saw two sets of tracks leading to 
the rock, but none leading from it, and therefore 
supposed that two of the fugitives had perished in 
attempting to descend to the lake at that place. 
In a few minutes, however, they saw Rogers mak- 
ing his escape on the ice, and thinking that he 
must have been under the immediate protection of 
the Great Spirit, or he could not have descended 
the precipice in safety, they did not venture to 
pursue him. From that day the rock has been 
known as "Rogers' Slide." In 1759, after the 
168 



w/i.r.Ers BOOK of nutfield. 



169 



retreat of the Frencli troops and the sava^jes to 
Canada, General Amherst determined to destroy 
in their homes the St. Francis Indians, who had 
committed unusual atrocities upon the settlements 
at Walpole, Hinsdale, and elsewhere. He selected 
Major Rogers for the task, and on Sept. 28 crave 
him this order: "\'()u are this night, with two 
hundred picked men, to proceed to attack the 
enemy's settlement below Missisqui bay, on the 
south side of the St. Lawrence, so as most effec- 
tually to disgrace and destroy the enemy, and 
redound to the honor of his majesty's arms. Re- 
member the infamous barbarities of the enemy's 



in slumber. Never was surprise more complete. 
Most of the Indians were killed before they were 
aroused t(j consciousness. There was little use 
for the musket. The hatchet and knife made sure 
work. Some few ran to the St. Lawrence, but a 
majority of these were shot or drowned. The 
rangers set fire to every wigwam, and from the 
captive squaws they learned that a large French 
force and a few Indians were encamped but a few 
miles away. Only one of their own number had 
been killed and one wounded. The return to 
New Hampshire was accomplished only after 
great privations and the loss of two thirds of the 




ROGERS SLIDE, LAKE GEORGE. 



Indian scoundrels. Take your revenge; but 
though the\' have killed women and children of 
all ages, spare theirs. When you have done this 
service, return and report to me." Major Rogers 
started immediately on this perilous march of over 
three hundred miles through an unbroken wilder- 
ness of the enemy's country, arriving on the 
twenty-second day at their destination, with a loss 
of si.xty men by sickness and fatigue. At night 
Rogers crept into the village and found the whole 
population in a drunken carousal over the return 
of their warriors. Just at daylight the rangers in 
three divisions entered the village, now wrapped 



surviving rangers. This was their last expedition 
in the royal service. In 1766 he was commissioned 
b\' the crown to exjilore the Lake Huron region 
and was appointed governor of Michilimackinac. 
Accused of treason, he was sent to Montreal for 
trial, but was honorablv acquitted, and in 1767 he 
went to England, where he published a volume of 
" Reminiscences of the French War," which was 
widelv circulated. While travelling in an Englisii 
mail coach it was stopped l)\' a highwavman, who 
with pistol at the window demanded the passen- 
gers' monev. Rogers opened his cloak, as if to 
comply, and the robber lowered his pistol. That 



lyo 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



instant the vigorous hand of the wary American 
sjrasped his collar and drew him from his horse 
through the coach window. He proved to he a 
noted offender, and on delivering him to the 
authorities Rogers received a handsome bounty. 
In the beginning of the Revolution Rogers re- 
turned to America and espoused the royalist cause. 
His name was on the list of tories proscribed by 
the act of New Hampshire of 1778. Leaving his 
family, never to return, Rogers went back to Lon- 
don, and thence to a post in East Indies, where he 
died some years latei-. General Stark, who served 
under him, used to sav that for presence of mind 
amid dangers he never knew the equal of Robert 
Rogers; and he always regretted the circumstances 
which led him to abandon his native country. In 
1760 Robert Rogers was married to Anna, daugh- 
ter of Rev. Arthur Brown, an Episcopal minister 
of Portsmouth. His son, Arthur Rogers, became 
a lawyer and lived and died in Concord. He mar- 
ried Margaret Furness of Portsmouth, and his son, 
Robert, born in Concord, married Sarah Lane of 
Gloucester, settled in Dcnv, and was the father of 



the present James Rogers, who was brought to 
Derry bv his parents in 1835, when he was two 
vears old, and has since resided there. He mar- 
ried, Feb. 18, 1864, Abbie Hall, daughter of Cap- 
tain Moses and Mary (Cochrane) Hall of Chester, 
and granddaughter, on the mother's side, of John 
and Jemima (Davis) Cochrane of New Boston, 
and great-granddaughter of Benjamin Davis, a 
captain in the Revolutionary army. They settled 
on the Waterman place, a farm once noted for its 
extent of territory (1,400 acres) and for the large 
number of cattle and sheep which were formerly 
kept on it. The children of James and Abbie 
(Hall) Rogers are: Elizabeth Furness, graduated 
at Pinkerton Academv in 1884, died Sept. 11, 
1885 ; Marv Cochrane, educated at Pinkerton 
Academy and at Salem (Mass.) Normal School, 
now a teacher in Lawrence, Mass. ; Helen Grace, 
graduated at Pinkerton Academv in 1891, entered 
Welleslev College in 1893 ; Anna Crombie, grad- 
uated at Pinkerton Academy in 1893; James 
Arthur, now pursuing a course in the business 
collefje at Manchester. 




-jsi;; "JT]!iljiliiiM,,,(,,. 




THE WAl'ER.MAN I'LACt, LASl DLRRV. 



HON. FREDERICK SMYTH, 



HON. FREDERICK SMYTH was horn in streets with gas, and the estahlishment of a free 

Candia March 9, 18 19, and his early years lihrary. His recommendation of a public library 

were spent on his father's farm. His education was somewhat in advance of popular senti- 

was received in the common schools of his native ment, the city government being composed of 

town, supplemented by a short course at Phillips men who had little faith in the value or necessity 

Andover Academy, and with a view to pursuing a of literary culture, but the plan was finally carried 



college course he 
taught school several 
winters. C i r c u m- 
stances, however, in- 
duced him to relin- 
quish this plan, and 
after working for a 
while in a store at 
Candia he went to 
Manchester and en- 
tered the employ of 
George Porter, who 
carried on a general 
merchandise business 
on Elm street, sub- 
sequentlv becoming 
a partner. This con- 
nection lasted until 
1849, when his long 
official career began. 
In that year he was 
elected city clerk, 
and so popular was 
lie in this capacity 
that he was re-elected 
the following year, 
although two-thirds 
of the members of 
the city government 
were opposed to him 

politically. In 1851 he was again chosen to the in the United States Agricultural Society, and was 
same office. His service as city clerk was followed manager of the three great fairs held at Richmond, 
by three terms as mayor of Manchester, being Chicago, and St. Louis. He was also vice-presi- 
elected in 1852 and re-elected in '53 and '54. He dent of the American Pomological Society. These 
urged various reforms and was instrumental in varied activities brought him favorably to the 
their execution. Among measures advocated by attention of the people throughout the State, and 
him were the construction of sidewalks, the intro- he received some votes in the convention which 
duction of a system of water-works, the planting of nominated Ichabod Goodwin for governor. In 
shade trees in the streets and parks, the strict en- 1861 he was appointed one of the agents on the 
forcement of school attendance, the lighting of the part of the United States to attend the iriter- 




HON. FREDERICK SMVI H. 



out, and the library 
is an enduring monu- 
ment to the name of 
Mayor Smyth. After 
the close of his term 
of office he was ap- 
pointed chairman of 
the commission to 
locate and build the 
Industrial School. 
This institution was 
very unpopular at 
the time, but he was 
its staunch advocate, 
and has lived to see 
iiis views vindicated. 
He was early a Whig, 
and always since a 
Republican in poli- 
tics. In 1857-58 Mr. 
Smyth was a mem- 
ber of the legislature 
from Ward 3. About 
the same time he was 
elected treasurer of 
the New Hampshire 
Agricultural Society, 
holding the position 
for ten years. He 
was also a director 



172 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



national exhibition at London, where he was 
chosen a juror. It was mainly through his efforts 
that the exhibits there of the Langdon mills and 
the Manchester Print Works were recognized and 
received medals. After returning home he devoted 
his time to the banks with which he was connected 
and taking active part in measures calculated to 
strengthen faith in the national administration. 
He went to the front after the battles of Gettys- 
burg and the Wilderness and gave efficient aid in 
caring for the sick and wounded. In the same 
year he was for the fourth time elected mayor of 
Manchester, and practically without opposition. 
The following year (1865) he was chosen governor 
of the state by a majority of more than 6,000, 
the highest given to any candidate for nearly a 
quarter of a century. His administration was 
eminently successful. The state debt, which here- 
tofore had seldom exceeded a few thousand dollars, 
had risen to millions, and loans had to be made in 
competition with other states and with the na- 
tional government. State bonds were hard to sell 
at any price; but notwithstanding these difficulties 
within three months after his inauguration, Gov- 
ernor Smyth had raised over a million dollars, largely 
through personal solicitation and mostly from the 
Manchester banks, and the result was that the 
credit of the state was firmlv re-established. In 
1866 he was unanimously renominated in the 
Republican convention for governor and was 
again elected by a handsome majority. During 
his first term as governor he was made one of the 
corporate trustees of the national homes for invalid 
soldiers and served with General Grant. Jav 
Cooke, General Butler, and others on the commit- 
tee whose duty it was to arrange the details. 
During his second term the first steps were taken 
toward the foundation of a state agricultural 
college, a measure which he warmly advocated. He 
has been treasurer of the college for twenty-five 
years. He also urged the restocking of the 
streams of the state with fish, a purpose which 
more recent legislative action has carried into 
effect. In 1866 he was chosen hv congress one of 
the managers of the military homes and was later 
made vice-president of the board. In 1872 
he was a delegate at large to the Repub- 
lican national convention, and was also a 



member of the state constitutional convention. 
President Hayes appointed Mr. Smyth honorary 
commissioner to the international exposition at 
Paris in 1878, and while abroad he visited many 
European countries. He subsequently went to 
Europe a number of times, and also travelled 
extensively in this country and in Mexico and 
Cuba. He is trustee of the New England Con- 
servatory of Music in Boston, in which he founded 
a scholarship. Dartmouth College conferred upon 
him the degree of A. M. in 1866. 

Besides his numerous other financial interests. 
Governor Smyth was president and one of the 
heavv stockholders of the Concord and Montreal 
railroad. When the question arose of leasing tlie 
road to the Boston and Maine, he was strongly 
opposed to the plan, and while it is not improbable 
that he would have yielded to the pressure of 
events in voting for the lease as at present con- 
summated, his illness has prevented his taking any 
jiart in the transaction. Generous and benevolent 
in a high degree, he gave cheerfullv of his abun- 
dance, and his public charities have been large. 
He succeeded the late Hon. George W\ Nesmith 
as president of the New Hampshire Orphans' 
Home on the W^ebster place at Franklin. He 
was president of the Franklin-Street Congrega- 
tional Society in Manchester for nineteen years, 
resigning that position in 1894, and is a member 
of that church, taking deep interest in its work. 

Governor Smvth was twice married, in 1844 
to Miss Emil\- Lane, daughter of John Lane of 
Candia. Mrs. Smyth died in 1884, and the follow- 
ing year, while in Scotland, he married Miss 
Marion Hamilton Cossar, a Manchester lady 
visiting there. As this book goes to press he is at 
his beautiful Manchester home, The Willows, suf- 
fering from the first serious and continued illness 
of his long and exceedingly busy life. 



WILLIAM D. BUCK, M. D., was born in 
Wiliiamstown, Vt., March 25, 18 12. In 
1 8 18 his parents moved to Lebanon, N. H. Here 
he attended the common schools of the time, and 
by the exercise of will power and aided by his 
vigorous intellect he made rapid progress in his 
studies. Not being able to take a collegiate 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



'75 



course, he went, at an early period, to Concord and 
engaged in the occupation of carriage painter -with 
Downing & Sons. While at work here he became 
interested in the science of music and was for 
many years instructor, conductor and organist in 
the South Congregational Church at Concord, 
and afterward at the Hanover-Street Church, 
Manchester. He familiarized himself with stan- 
dard writers and retained through life his love for 
Handel, Beethoven, and Mozart. His attention 
being drawn to the medical profession, he deter- 
mined to fit himself for its practice, and by teach- 
ing music was enabled to defray the greater part 
of the expense of the study of medicine. He 
went into it with great enthusiasm, and his subse- 
quent career showed his natural fitness for this 
profession. 

He began the study of medicine with Tim- 
othy Haines, M. D., of Concord ; attended a 
course of lectures at Woodstock, \^t., and also 
took the course at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, New York, where he graduated in 1842. 
He began the practice of his profession with Dr. 
Chadbourne, in Concord, in 1842, and there remained 
for four years, when, desiring to perfect his medi- 
cal knowledge, he visited London and Paris, where 
he became acquainted with manv distinguished 
men in the profession and spent much time in the 
hosjiitals of those cities. He also visited Italy, 
gaining much information and making a favorable 
impression upon those with whom he came in 
contact. After an absence of one year he returned 
and made Manchester his home, and here, with 
the exception of one year spent in California, he 
lived until his death. 

Dr. Buck sustained an enviable reputation as 
a physician and surgeon, possessing the confidence 
of the community in which he lived, and was early 
regarded as one of the leading medical men of the 
state. He reached this high position in his pro- 
fession without the aid of wealth or social position. 
His success was due to hard study and close appli- 
cation to his business, accompanied by a zeal and 
devotion rarelv surpassed. He was unmindful of 
riches, public honor, or anything which he thought 
might interfere with the one great pursuit of his 
life. Dr. Buck possessed an active mind and a 
retentive memory, and was a thorough scholar. He 



seemed to know his own powers, and this gave 
him great influence over students in medicine. 
In his intercourse with his professional brethren 
Dr. Buck was always courteous and obliging, 
religiously regarding the rules of medical eti- 
quette, and in his consultations he always gave the 
patient the benefit of his best skill and extensive 
practice. He made it a point of honor to be 
prompt to his engagements. In his example and 
practice he honored the profession to which he 
had devoted the best years of his life, and did 
much to dignify and elevate the standard of medi- 
cal education. Dr. Buck was a prominent mem- 
ber of the New Hampshire Medical Society, and 
was elected its president in 1866. His papers read 
before this society were always listened to with 
marked attention. For twenty years he had a 
large experience in teaching medicine, proving 
himself devoted and faithful as an instructor. His 
office or dissecting room were uncomfortable 
places for lazy students, and he had little patience 
with a young man who would not use his brains. 
Dr. Buck was frequently called as a medical ex- 
pert in many of the most important civil and 
criminal cases in the state. A distinguished ad- 
vocate at the bar in New Hampshire said of Dr. 
Buck: " By his clearness of description of all im- 
portant facts to which he was called in legal inves- 
tigations, he had the confidence of courts, the jury, 
and the legal profession to an extent equal to, if 
not above, that of any physician and surgeon in 
New England. He made no display of learning, 
but used plain English, so that a jury might com- 
prehend." 

Bleeding, calomel, and antimony, the three 
most potent remedies of the fathers, he rarely 
used. An experience of thirty years only strength- 
ened his convictions against their use, and he had 
independence of mind enough to resist a mode of 
treatment which the medical world had made 
fashionable, if not imperative. In the surgical 
department of his profession Dr. Buck excelled in 
his treatment of fractures, and in it his mechanical 
ingenuity was of great service. He took pride in 
putting up a fractured limb. The glue bandage, 
which he described in an address before the society 
in 1 866, was original with him, and a favorite 
remark of his was that " a man should carry his 



176 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



splints in his head rather than under his arm." 
In poHtics he was a Republican. Dr. Buck lived a 
consistent Christian life. He died Jan. 9, 1872, 
suddenly, and in the midst of an active practice. 
Dr. Buck was twice married, his first wife 
being Grace Low of Concord, who died in 1856. 
In 1859 he married Mary W. Nichols of Manches- 
ter, who is now living. He left no children. 



HON. JOHN HOSLEY was born in Han- 
cock May 12, 1826, one of the nine children 
of Samuel and Sophia (Wilson) Hosley. His an- 
cestors came from England and on his mother's 
side are traced back to 1640, when Rev. John 
Wilson settled at the head of Wilson's lane in 
Boston. He was a lineal descendant of Gov. John 
Winthrop. His great grandfather, James Hoslev, 
was a prominent official of Townsend, Mass., in 
1775, and was captain of the 'alarm list" who 
marched to the defence of Cambridge. Later he 
was captain of a company wiiich marched to the 
assistance of Gen. Gates at Saratoga. After the 
Revolution James Hosley moved to Hancock, 
N. H., and the same farm he occupied was handed 
down to John Hosley. 

He worked on the farm and obtained 'what 
little education he could until he was twenty years 
of age, when he came to Manchester and went to 
work as .a shoe cutter for Moses Fellows, the 
fourth mayor of the city. In 1849 he began work 
as a weaver in the Amoskeag mills, but two years 
later the gold excitement carried him to California, 
where he remained two years. On returning he 
went into the grocery business. Next he became 
an overseer in the Amoskeag mills and remained 
in that position till 1865. 

He was a member of the common council in 
1856-57, member of the school board in 1861-62, 
and an alderman in 1863, '64, '71, '81, and '82. 
Upon the death of Mayor Daniels in 1865, Alder- 
man Hosley was chosen to fill the mayoralty chair. 
The next year he was elected as the citizens' can- 
didate for mayor over Joseph B. Clark, Republi- 
can. He was also city tax collector in 1875 and 
1876. In 1886 he was again elected mayor. In 
1865 he was a delegate to the national union con- 
vention, which met in Philadelphia. 



Mr. Hosley was a gentleman of the old school, 
strictly honest and conscientious in all his public 
and private dealings. That he was so often called 
to fill important public offices emphasizes the fact 
that he was a true descendant of the hardy race of 
pioneers, inheriting the cool judgment and ability 
of his ancestors. To this class of men Manches- 
ter owes a heavy debt that can be paid only by 
continuous efforts for legitimate progress and 
growth on the lines laid down by John Hosley and 
his compatriots. He stepped from the ranks of 
workers to the helm at the instance of those who 
knew his worth, and filled each position to the 
city's honor. Reliance upon the men whose in- 
dustry had made her great is one of the city's 
strongest points. 

Mr. Hosley married, in 1854, Dorothea H., 
daughter of Samuel and Cornelia Jones of Weare. 
They had one daughter, Marian J., the wife of 
Dr. William M. Parsons of Manchester. Mr. 
Hosley was a Unitarian by belief, a member of 
Hillsborough Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of Lafayette 
Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and also a Knight Tem- 
plar. He died March 24, 1890. 



WILLIAM M. PARSONS, M. D., son of 
Josiah and Judith (Badger) Parsons, was 
born in Gilmanton Dec. 30, 1826. He was the 
seventh of nine children, among whom was one 
other doctor, Joseph R., and one lawyer, Daniel J. 
All the others were teachers. His father was a 
lieutenant in the war of 181 2, and his grandfather 
was a Revolutionary pensioner. On his father's 
side he is descended from Joseph Parsons, who 
was born in England and came to this countr\- in 
July, 1626, and settled in Northampton, Mass. 
His mother was a descendant of Gen. Joseph. 
Badger, a ])rominent officer of the Revolution. 
Among other ancestors were Rev. William Par- 
sons and Rev. Joseph Parsons, both graduates of 
Harvard, and on his mother's side, Hon. Joseph 
Badger and Hon. W'illiam Badger, governor of 
New Hampshire in 1834-36. Dr. Parsons attended 
the common schools and Gilmanton Academy, 
and began the study of medicine with Dr. Nahum 
Wight of Gilmanton. He remained with him 
three years, at the same time attending a course of 




• 



1 

I 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD- 



'79 






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WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



lectures at Dartmouth Medical College. He then 
began to practice with his brother, Dr. Joseph B. 
Parsons, with whom he remained until 1855, 
having- in the meantime attended a final course of 
lectures at the Vermont Medical College, from 
which he received his diploma in June, 1851. In 
November, 1882, he married Marian J., only daugh- 
ter of Hon. John and Dorothea (Jones) Hosley of 
Manchester. They have one child, Martha S., 
born April 30, 1884. In 1855 his brother sold his 
practice to him and moved to Haverhill, Mass. 
Dr. William practiced in Bennington nine years, 
enjoying a wide country clientage ; in Antrim 
fifteen years, and in April, 1873, came to Man- 
chester, where he has since conducted a large and 
lucrative practice. In 1861 he was appointed by 
the governor as chairman of a commission for the 
extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle 
which was prevalent at the time. He achieved 
great success in this capacity. In 1883 he was 
appointed assistant surgeon of the First Regiment, 
New Hampshire National Guard, and in 1884 was 
promoted to the office of surgeon, with the rank 
of major. 

In religious belief he is a Quaker, and is also 
a member of the Masons, 32°, of the Odd Fellows, 
Knights of Honor, and Elks. He represented the 
town of Bennington in the state legislature of 
1871-72. In his practice, extending over forty-five 
years, Dr. Parsons has won an enviable reputation 
as a physician and surgeon. A very large number 
of students have begun successful careers in his 
office. He enjoys a wide acquaintance profession- 
ally and socially, has a love for the beauties of 
nature, which takes him to the woods every hunt- 
ing season, and has a large capacity for enjoying 
life while still in the harness as a skilled physician 
and surgeon. Mrs. Parsons is a home-loving 
woman of strong intellectuality and benevolence, 
and their life is a fitting sequence to the thrift and 
hardship of their worthy ancestors. 



REV. THOMAS A. DORION, pastor of St. 
Jean's Methodist Episcopal Church in Man- 
chester, and an indefatigable worker for the con- 
version of French Catholics to Protestantism, was 
born in St. Andrews, P. Q., in 1849, being a 
descendant of one of the oldest French Protestant 



families in Canada. For several years he studied 
at Pointe-aux-Trembles, and having learned the 
printer's trade he founded, in 1874, a newspaper 
near his native town which is still published. In 
1877 he became a local preacher in the Methodist 
Church of Canada, and after four years of theo- 
logical studies and probation, was ordained to the 
ministry at the session of the Montreal Confer- 
ence held in Kingston. He had been married, in 
187 1, to Miss Marie Elzear Denault, a niece of the 
fifth Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec. Mr. 




REV. THOMAS A. DORION. 



Dorion was stationed as pastor of Methodist 
churches in Longueuil, Danville, and Sherbrooke, 
Canada, and for two vears, pending the time when 
the Methodist Church in the United States would 
be ready to begin its mission work among the 
French Canadians in New England, he was at- 
tached to the Congregational Church in Ware, 
Mass. In 1889, when the New Hampshire Con- 
ference decided to begin missionary labors in this 
direction, Mr. Dorion was appointed to Manches- 
ter. He has built up a well organized French 
Methodist Episcopal church in the citv where, six 
years ago, there was not even the nucleus of a 



I 




^< 




iriL LEV'S noOK OP NIJTFIELD. 



congregation. The present church membership 
of forty-five does not show all the work that has 
been accomplished, for during the six years of Mr. 
Dorion's ministry the church has had seventy 
members. French Canadians are constantly mov- 
ing from one place to another, and there are today, 
with the exception of the pastor's family, only four 
names on the rolls of the church of persons who 
joined when it was organized. 

Being an old newspaper man, he brought his 
practical knowledge of the business into the min- 
istry and has for vears, at a great sacrifice of 
strength and time, issued many tracts, papers, and 
books intended to convert Catholics to Protest- 
antism. He publishes a little French Sunday 
school weekly, the only paper of its kind on the 
continent, and also a monthly journal. He has 
also translated into French the Methodist catechisms 
and discipline, and has written a history of the 
lives of the Popes from a Protestant standpoint, 
and a small work entitled: "Romanism and the 
Gospel." During the year 1894 he published over 
half a million pages of religious tracts and Sunday 
school literature. Mr. Dorion is a most eloquent 
and impressive speaker in his native tongue. 



r^OL. CHARLES E. BALCH, the son of 

^— -^ Mason and Hannah (Holt) lialch, was born 
in b^anccstown March 17, 1S34. He was edu- 
cated in the common schools of his native village 
and at Francestown Academy, and at the age of 
eighteen began his active business career as book- 
keeper m the mercantile establishment of Barton 
& Co., in Manchester. After remaining with this 
firm about two years he accepted a clerkship in the 
Manchester Savings bank, where his financial 
talents soon attracted the attention of the officers 
of the Manchester bank, and upon the reorganiza- 
tion of this institution as a national bank, in 1865, 
Col. Balch was chosen its cashier and held that 
position for nearly twenty years, resigning in Jan- 
uary, 1884. He was also trustee of the Manches- 
ter Savings bank, the largest in the State, and a 
member of its investment committee and treas- 
urer of the institution until within a few 
months before his death. He was treasurer of the 



Manchester Gaslight Company, a director and 
member of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance 
Company, and a trustee of many large estates. In 
all the various positions of responsibility and trust 
which Col. Balch was called upon to fill he dis- 
charged his duties with eminent ability and proved 
himself a most sagacious, careful, and safe financier. 
Fie was interested in a number of vessels, one of 
which, a four-masted schooner, of eight hundred 
and forty-three tons, named after him, was 
launched at Bath, Me., July 15, 1882. Col. Balch 
was thoroughly alive to the welfare of his adopted 
city and rejoiced in its prosperity, always respond- 
ing to personal calls looking to this end. 

He never sought political preferment, but was 
always a staunch supporter of the Republican 
party. Deeply interested in national, state, and 
municipal affairs, he had firm convictions in regard 
to them. His life was conspicuous for its purity 
and uprightness. Not a breath of evil was ever 
raised against him, and his personal bearing to 
everybody was extremely cordial. For each of the 
vast number of persons who were brought into 
business and social relations with him, he had 
always a pleasant greeting, impressing all with his 
affability and marked courtesy. The untiagging 
interest which characterized him enabled him to 
become one of the most successful men of Man- 
chester and to acquire a handsome property. In 
1883 he completed one of the finest residences in 
the city, in a delightful location. His architectural 
taste, which was something unusual in a person 
not a professional, was evinced both in the plans 
for his own house, in the building of the Cilley 
block, in the fitting up of the interior of the Man- 
chester bank rooms, and as chairman of the build- 
ing committee of the Opera House. Having 
reached that point in his career where he could 
sensibly lessen his business cares, he was in a posi- 
tion to enjoy the fruits of an honorable and suc- 
cessful life. 

His death occurred Oct. 18, 1884. He was 
connected with but one secret organization, the 
Washington Lodge of Masons, His military title 
was received from two years service on the staff of 
Governor Head. Col. Balch was married in July, 
1867, to Miss Emeline R., daughter of Rev. 
Nahum Brooks, who survives him. 



EMILE HYACINTHE TARDIVEL. 



EMILE H. TARDIVEL, one of the hrightcst 
young French-American lawyers in New 
England, was born in Quebec, P. O., May i6, 
1859, his parents being Jean-Marie and Adelaide 
(Donati) Tardivel. He was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Quebec and at Laval University, 
from which he grad- 
uated as A. B., June 
24, 1880. He de- 
voted himself to the 
study of law until 
1883, when he came 
to the States, being 
at St. Johnsbury, Vt., 
one year, then at 
Lewiston, Me., from 
1884 until 1 888, re- 
moving thence to 
Worcester, Mass., 
where he resided un- 
til 1892. In the lat- 
ter year he took up 
his residence in Man- 
chester and has since 
made this citv his 
home. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 
the spring of 1894, 
and is an accom- 
plished speaker. He 
is a Democrat in poli- 
tics and a party man- 
ager of ability, having 
had charge of the 
French vote dur- 
ing the presidential 

campaign of 1888 with headquarters in New York. 
He is a member of the present legislature, to 
which he was elected by a large majority at the 
election in 1894, and is an attendant upon St. 
Mary's Catholic church, an active meml)cr of the 
Catholic Foresters and Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and an honorary member of more than 
fifty French Canadian organizations throughout 
the United States. In addition to his work as a 
lawyer, he has done excellent service as a jour- 



nalist and lecturer, and in 1894 published " Le 
Guide Canadicn-Francais de Manchester," which 
is a valuable directory and history combined of the 
French colony of the city. 

In 1879 he took a trip abroad, the chief pur- 
pose of his European journey being to visit the 

home of his father 
in Brittany, France. 
Oct. 2, 1889, he 
married Minnie Ger- 
trude Kavanaugh of 
Lewiston, Me., and 
their home is glad- 
dened by two chil- 
dren : Paul Henry, 
born June 28, 1891, 
at Worcester, and 
Helene Jeanne, born 
Aug. I I, 1893, at 
Manchester. 




A 



EMILE H. 'I'ARDIVEL. 



I the centennial 
exercises held 
in Manchester, Wil- 
liam Stark was called 
on to speak, and 
among other thmgs 
in relation to the 
professional men of 
the town he said : 
"Unfortunately Man- 
chester has had but 
one college grad- 
uate." He himself 
was that graduate. 
The next speaker was his cousin, Hon. Joseph 
Kidder, and he began his remarks by saying: 
" I beg leave to difTer from the speaker who 
has just preceded me as to its being a misfor- 
tune that Manchester has yet produced but one 
college graduate. I have always noticed that 
if a family had one fool among its members they 
were sure to send him to college, and I con- 
gratulate old Derryfield that its families have thus 
far been so exempt." 



184 




-^./^^eOL 



"uyi^it^ 



REV. CYRUS WASHINGTON WALLACE, 



REV. CYRUS W. WALLACE was born in 
Bedford, March 8, 1805, son of Thomas and 
Mercy (Frye) Wallace, and was one of a family of 
five brothers and two sisters. His youth was 
passed in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, his 
education being obtained in the district schools of 
his native town and at Oberlin Seminary, Oberlin, 
Ohio. He early manifested an inclination for the 
ministry and was fitted for this calling under the 
instruction of Rev. Herman Rood and Rev. Aaron 
Warner at the Theological Seminary at Gilman- 
ton. Having been licensed to preach by the Lon- 
donderry presbytery in April, 1838, he came to 
Manchester in May of the following year to 
supplv the pulpit of the First Congregational 
church, then situated at Amoskcag village. On 
its removal to the east bank of the river he was 
ordained and installed as its pastor on Jan. 8, 1840. 
For thirtv-three years he continued in this charge, 
resigning Feb. 11, 1873, but continued to conduct 
the preaching service in his old pulpit until the 
December following, when he accepted the suppl)^ 
of the pulpit of the First Congregational church 
at Rockland, Mass., though retaining his residence 
in Manchester. His dismissal by council from the 
I'irst Congregational church of Manchester was 
on Dec. 16, 1873. In addition to preaching at 
Rockland he supplied the pulpits at West Stew- 
artstown, Drurv, and Francestown, N. FL, for 
several weeks at a time, but was never installed 
over any church save the one in Manchester, of 
which mention is made. He was a vigorous 
preacher, and his discourses were oftentimes 
eloquent. Two sermons delivered after his retire- 
ment from the Hanover-Street Congregational 
church are especially worthy of mention. The 
first was the last sermon ever delivered in the 
old church, which occupied the site of the present 
Opera House block, and was preached March 28, 
1880; the second was delivered March 8, 1885, at 
the celebration of his eightieth anniversarv. Both 
efforts attracted wide attention at the time as 
remarkable for a man of his advanced years. His 
vigor and clearness of mind as demonstrated by 
these notable sermons mav be compared with the 
like traits of I Ion. W. E. Gladstone of England. Mr. 



Wallace was the first minister to hold regular 
preaching services on the east bank of the river at 
what was called the new village in the early days 
of Manchester, and his pastorate was longer than 
that of any other Manchester clergyman. He was 
an ardent Republican and in 1867-68 was sent as a 
representative to the legislature from Ward 4. 
It was also during the latter year that he received 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth 
College. He was strongly identified with the 
early history of the city and prominent in all 
measures for reform. During the civil war he was 
for a long time a prominent member of the Chris- 
tian commission. His industry was incessant, the 
onlv real vacation he ever took during his long 
ministry being a three months' trip to Europe 
in 1834. Mav 19, 1840, he married Miss Susan A. 
Webster, who died May 15, 1873. He married for 
the second time on Sept. 30, 1874, Miss Elizabeth 
H. Allison. Mr. Wallace died Oct. 21, 1889, aged 
eighty-four years. 



/^ARRISON FIOUSES, to which the peoplc 
^ J could flee when threatened by the Indians, 
were not as numerous in Nutfield as in most other 
colonies, for the reason that there was no great 
need of them. Nevertheless there were a few, the 
house of Captain James Gregg, near the mill, 
being a garrison, and also the house of Samuel 
Barr, now Mr. Thwyng's. Rev. James McGregor's 
dwelling was surrounded by a flanker, which was 
built by the town, and in the West Parish a garri- 
son stood on the spot now occupied by the house 
of Charles A. Tenney. Tradition ascribes the 
preservation (.>{ the colonv from the attacks of the 
Indians to the influence of Mr. McGregor with 
the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the French governor 
of Canada. It is said that they were classmates 
at college, that a correspondence was maintained 
between them, and that at the request of his 
friend the governor caused means to be used for 
the protection of the settlement. He was said to 
have induced the Catholic priests to charge the 
Indians ncjt to injure any of the Nutfield settlers, 
as they, were different from the English ; and to 



87 



1 88 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



assure them that no bounty would be paid for their endeared himself to all who knew him by his 

scalps, and that, if they killed any of them, their frankness, sterling integrity, and fair dealing. He 

sins would not be forgiven. Another and perhaps 

more plausible reason for the immunity of the 

colony from Indian attacks was the fact that the 

settlers had secured through Colonel Wheelwright 

a fair and acknowledged Indian title to the lands. 



REUBEN WHITE, who built and for so many 
years conducted the famous White's Tavern 
on Mammoth road in Londonderry, came of sturdy 
Scotch-Irish stock. He was born in Londonderry 
in 1795, and always lived there until his death, 
which occurred in 1856. At his tavern he and 
Mrs. White, the amiable landlady, entertained 
many of the dignitaries and noted people of their 
day, including Presidents Polk and Pierce and 
Daniel Webster. He was frequently honored by 




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MRS. REUBEN WHITE. 



died honored and respected, not only by the whole 
community but by thousands throughout the state. 



ONE of the rough and ready characters of Man- 
chester was Richard Ayer, a capitalist who 
came from Suncook and took a strong hand in 
<le\eloping the voung city. One day he was ar- 
raigned before a justice for fast driving on the street 
and fined ten dollars. He handed the court two 
ten-dollar bills, and was asked what the extra bill 
was for. " My dog ran, too," was the sarcastic reply. 



T' 



REUBEN WHITE. 



HE READY WIT of Rev. Cyrus W. Wal- 
lace of Manchester was well known to 
several generations of his time. One day J. 
Bailey Moore, a newspaper reporter, stopped in 
front of the parson's yard, observing the divine 
his fellow citizens by election to })ublie office, heaping brush on a roaring fire. " I suppose you 
having been postmaster and having represented wish all the sinners were in that fire, parson ? " said 
his town in the legislature. Reuben White was the reporter. " No," was the reply, " I have been 
a man of strong individuality, who nevertheless preaching all these years to keep them out of it," 



INDIANS OF THE MERRIMACK. 



IF there is any truth in tlie adage that the only 
good Indian is a dead Indian, then we may 
sav that the people found upon this continent, 
when the white man landed upon these shores, 
have well earned the title of " Noble Red Man." 
Unfortunately for tiie American Indian, the first 
settlers were to a great extent religious bigots. 
Driven from their own country by persecutions, 
they in turn ]iersecuted those who did not agree 
with them. The Puritans could not endure the 
thought that anv religious instruction should be 
imparted to the uncivilized red man, unless it was 
in accordance with the doctrines of the particular 
denomination to which they belonged ; and out 
of this bigotry came those cruel Indian wars, that 
have left only the name of a once powerful people. 

The mistakes of historians, caused by lack of 
knowledge of their subject, have, in the light of 
recent investigations, left mucii that was formerlv 
relied upon as truth of less value than tradition. 

When the English began to colonize New 
England, and the French Acadia, they found the 
whole country occupied by a race of people whom 
Columbus had called Indians, and by that name 
they have since been known, the red man taking 
the same name, to distinguish himself from the 
white man, for in the Indian language there was 
no race name. Of their oriijin nothina; was 
known, not even by reliable tradition. 

Daniel Gookin, who for many years was a co- 
laborer with Rev. John Eliot in his work of 
Christianizing the Indians of Massachusetts, and 
who was appointed magistrate in 1652, and four 
years later commissioned superintendent of all the 
Indians of Massachusetts, says, in his historical 
collections of the Indians of New En<rland : 



"Concerning the original of the Savages or In- 
dians in New England, there is nothing of cer- 
tainty to be concluded ; l)ut yet it may rationally 
be made out that all the Indians of America, from 
the straits of Magellan and its islands on the south 
unto the most northerly part yet discovered, are 
original! V of the same nation or sort of people." 
The color of their skin, the shape of their bodies, 
their black hair, their dark, dull e\es led many to 
believe them to have liecn of Asiatic origin. More 
recent investiirations and discoveries of ancient 
ruins in Mexico and Central America would indi- 
cate that this continent was the home of primitive 
man, and that Asia and all the East were peopled 
from what was supposed to be the new world. 

Of that people who once inhabited the valley 
of the Merrimack, not one is left to tell the story 
of his conilicts with the whites. Naught is left to 
us but our mountains, lakes, and rivers, that still 
retain, in a disfigured form, the names given them 
by the red man ; and even these have been so dis- 
torted that many of them cannot be interpreted 
by those who have made a careful study of their 
language. Fortunately, the early missionaries, 
who devoted their lives to the service of the 
Indians, have left us vocabularies from which we 
can, to a certain extent, learn the true meaning of 
their language, and admire the beauty of their 
dialect. Rev. John Eliot, in his translation of the 
Bible, gives us much of the language of the In- 
dians with whom he labored. Roger Williams 
furnishes us with the key to the Narragansett lan- 
guage. Several short vocabularies of other tribes 
have been prepared and |)rinted. 

Rev. Joseph Aubery, who for many years was 
a missionary among the Abenakis, left a valuable 



1 89 



igo 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



contribution. There are now in the possession of 
one of the churches in Canada several old manuscript 
volumes of the Abenaki lano^uage. These volumes, 
numbering- ten in all, arc written on g'ood paper, 
in a plain hand. The first volume is a dictionary 
of the language, in quarto form, containing 540 
pages, commencing with the word " abandonne " 
and ending with "zone." It is a complete Indian 
and French dictionary. The second volume is 
also a quarto, and contains 927 pages in double 
columns, many of which are left blank, for the pur- 
pose of adding other words as required. This 



the Indian names by which so many of our moun- 
tains, lakes, and rivers are known today. No more 
valuable work could be undertaken by our histori- 
cal society, than the publication of these works of 
Joseph Aubery. Their existence has been so little 
known that no writer upon the subject of the 
American Indian has ever referred to them, 
except L'Abbe Maurault, in his French history of 
the Abenakis, published in 1866. 

The Indians inhabiting the valley of the 
Merrimack were known as the Pawtucket tribe. 
Thev resided near the falls on the river, below the 




AMOSKF.AG FALLS, MANCHESTER. 



volume gives the names of many localities and the 
construction of the language. The second edition 
of these dictionaries was prepared in 171 5. The 
other eight volumes contain mostly the church 
service translated into the Indian tongue. These 
unpublished volumes contain, without doubt, the 
most complete and accurate translation of the 
language of the aborigines of New England ever 
prepared. Father Aubery was perfectly familiar 
with the language. Had some of our historians 
of these tribes had access to these works, there 
would have been fewer errors in the etymology of 



present site of the city of Lowell. At the time of 
the settlement of Massachusetts, the chief sachem 
of the Pawtuckets was Passaconaway, who was 
said to have been a witch and a sorcerer. He held 
dominion over several small tribes, the Wamesit, 
Pascataqua, and Pennacook being the principal 
ones. The Wamesits were also known as the 
Namkekes. The seat of the Wamesits was at the 
junction of the Merrimack and Concord rivers, at 
what is now the town of Tewksbury, Mass. It 
was a great fishing place, and took the name Nam- 
keke from that fact, as did also the falls in Man- 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



191 



Chester, the Amoskeag. These two falls, bearing 
names so nearly alike, led Mr. Potter into many 
errors in his history of Manchester. He locates 
the Namkeke tribe at the falls in Manchester, 
when any one who will take the trouble to read 
either Eliot or Gookin will see that they were at 
the Namkeke or fishing place at Wamesit. Mr. 
Potter savs the Indians of the Merrimack were a 
part of the Nipmuck Indians. The name Nip- 
muck was never applied to those Indians that 
resided on the larger rivers. Nipmuck (Nipnet) 
was a name given to the petty tribes, or clans, of 
inland Indians scattered over a large extent of 
countrv, — in Windham and Tolland counties in 
Connecticut, Worcester and Hampden counties 
in Massachusetts, and the northern part of Rhode 
Island. Their principal seat was at or near the 
great ponds in Oxford, Mass. From these ponds 
they derived their name of pond or fresh water 
Indians. They were- members of several different 
tribes. Some were under the jurisdiction of the 
Massacliusetts, some under the Narragansetts, and' 
some under the other larger tribes. They were 
called by this general name to distinguish them 
from the shore Indians and from the river Indians 
who lived on the Connecticut. The Indians 
residing on the Merrimack river did not properlv 
come under the name of Nipmuck. Thev were at 
all times known as the Pawtucket tribe. Some- 
times the name Pennacook was applied to them, 
though the latter name belonged to the division of 
the tribe that resided on the river in the vicinity 
of Manchester and Concord. Their principal seat 
was at Pawtucket (Chelmsford), and they took 
their name from the falls in the Merrimack river 
at this place. Pawtucket was from the Indian 
word Pawtagit (who shakes himself, which shakes 
itself), in a figurative sense, applied sometimes to 
falls. The name is spelled a little differently by 
some. The Pennacook country extended from 
Concord, N. H., up and down the river without 
any definite bounds, and without doubt it included 
the whole length of the river from the Pawtucket 
falls to Concord, and as much above as this divi- 
sion of the tril)e extended. 

Passaconaway was the chief sachem and must 
have been very old when the whites first came 
among them. He was at Pawtucket at the time 



of Mr. Eliot's visit in 1647, or would have been 
there had he not run away for fear of the English. 
Mr. Morton, who saw him in 1628, says he was 
ninety years old. On the visit of Eliot, in 1648, 
Passaconaway promised to become a praying 
Indian, and said he would advise his sons to do the 
same, some of whom were with him at this time. 
If he was ninety years old when Morton saw him, 
he must have been one hundred and ten years old 
at the time he was converted, or rather promised 
to become a praying Indian. Gen. Gookin saw 
him in 1660, and at this time he was one hundred 
and twenty years of age. In that case Wonalan- 
cet was born after Passaconaway was eighty years 
old, and it seems there were other children born to 
him after the birth of Wonalancet. The date of 
Passaconaway's death is not known. Mr. Potter 
says: " He died prior to 1669. He was alive in 
1663, and as Wonalancet was at the head of the 
tribe in 1669, it is evident that Passaconaway was 
dead at this time." The fact that Wonalancet 
was at the head of the tribe in 1669 is no evidence 
that Passaconaway was then dead. He relin- 
quished all authority over all the Indians subject 
to him to Wonalancet in 1660. It was at this 
time that he delivered the speech attributed to him 
called his dying speech. He had become very old 
and incapacitated to perform the duties incumbent 
upon one occupying so high a position ; so he 
called all his people together and informed them 
of his intention of surrendering the sachemship to 
his son, Wonalancet. The great speech which he 
is said to have delivered on this occasion has been 
handed down to us, and no less than three entirely 
different versions of it have been given. It is 
much more likely that all these pretended eloquent 
remarks originated in the fertile brain of some 
white man, or it may have been that instead of 
delivering the speech he obtained leave to have it 
printed, as is the custom in modern days. 

After Wonalancet had become chief sachem 
of the tribe, it would be a fair presumption that 
he repaired to Pawtucket and surrendered the 
Pennacook tribe to the grandson of Passaconaway, 
Kancamagus, oldest son of Nanamocomuck, who 
had a sachemship formerly at Wachusett, later at 
Groton, Mass. After Wonalancet assumed full 
control of the tribe, it is most likely he remained 



19* 



WiLLEfS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



at Pawtucket and retained that place as the princi- 
pal seat of the tribe, as his father had before him, 
for in 1663, in answer to the request of Nanaleucet, 
second son of Passaconaway, having many children 
and no land of his own to plant, he was granted 
one hundred acres of land lying upon a great hill, 
near a great pond, about twelve miles distant from 
the house of John Euered, part of which land was 
formerly planted by Nanalaucet, and Euered, 
Webb, and Hinckman of Chelmsford were ap- 
pointed to lay out the same. Instead of leaving 
Pennacook and going down the river, in fear of 



A party of French Indians (of whom some were of kindred of 
this sachem's wife) very lately fell upon this people, being but 
few and unarmed, and partly by persuasion, partly by force, 
carried them all away. One, with his wife, child and kinswoman, 
who were of our praying Indians, made their escape and came 
into the P^nglish and discovered what was done. These things 
keep some in a continual disgust and jealousy of all the Indians. 

Wonalancet seems to have been at Pawtucket, 
or Wamesit, whenever Eliot or Gookin visited 
this place. Mr. Gookin, in his report of a visit 
made May 5, 1674, says: 

According to our custom, Mr. Eliot and myself took our 




MERRIMACK RIVER, BELOW AMOSKEAG FALLS, MANCHESTER. HIGH WATER SCENE. 



the Ensflish, Wonalancet left Pawtucket and went 
to Pennacook, and being followed to this place he 
went further away. This would be inferred from 
the letter of Mr. Eliot, under date of Oct. 23, 1677, 
in which he says : 

We had a sachem of the greatest blood in the country sub- 
mit to pray to God, a little before the war. His name is Wan- 
nalaunset. In the time of the wars he fled, by reason of the 
wicked actings of some English youth who causelessly and 
basely killed and wounded some of them. He was persuaded 
to come in again, but the English having ploughed and sown 
•with rye all their lands, they had but little corn to subsist by. 



journey to Wamesit, or Pawtucket, and arriving there that even- 
ing, Mr. Eliot preached to as many of them as could be got 
together out of Mat. xxii, the parable of the marriage of the 
king's son. We met at the wigwam of one called Wannalauncet, 
about two miles from the town, near Pawtucket falls, and 
bordering upon Merrimack river. This person, Wannalauncet, 
is the son of old Passaconaway, the chiefest sachem of Paw- 
tucket [Query. — Was Passaconaway alive at this time .■']. He 
is a sober and grave person, and of years between fifty and sixty. 
He hath been always loving and friendly to the P^nglish. Many 
endeavours have been made several years to gain this sachem to 
the Christian religion, but he hath stood off from time to time, 
and not yield up himself personally, though for four years past he 
has been willing to hear the word of God preached, and to 



]\'/L LET'S BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



'93 



keeiJ the Sabbath. A great reason that hath kept him oft", I 
conceave, hath been the indisposition and averseness of sundry 
of his chief men and lelations to pray to God. But at this time 
it pleased God so to influence and overcome his heart, that it 
being proposed to him to give his answer concerning praying to 
God, after some dehberation and serious |)ause, he stood up, and 
made a s|)eaeh to tliis effect : " Sirs, you have been pleased for 
four years last past, in your abundant love to apply yourselves 
particularly unto me and my people, to e.xhort, press, and per- 
suaile us to pray to God, I am very thankful to you for your 
jiains. I must acknowledge, I have all my days used to pass in 
an old canoe (alluding to his frequent custom to pass in a canoe 
u])on the river), and now you exhort me to change and leave my 
old canoe and embark in a new canoe, to which I have hitherto 
been unwilling ; but now I yield up myself to your advise, and 
enter into a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God 
hereafter." 

There is no room for doubt as to the authen- 
ticity of this sjjeech, for Mr. Eliot made it a custom 
to copy down all the confessions made by con- 
verted Indians. 

What was left of the Pawtucket Indians under 
Wonalancet forsook their ancient seat in 1677, and 
removed to the north. Wonalancet was at Penna- 
cook in the fall of 1675, as Capt. Mosley, on the 
1 6th of August, was sent to Penny-cook with a 
company of soldiers to destroy the remainder of 
his people. When he arrived at Pennacook he 
found no Indians. It seems that Wonalancet, 
either through cowardice or fear of the English, 
withdrew from the place, and while lying in 
ambush saw his wigwams and provisions destroyed. 
This would seem to settle the question in regard 
to what place Wonalancet went to escape the war. 
He evidently left Pawtucket, as stated by Eliot, 
and came to Pennacook, supposing, no doubt, that 
he would be safe from harm, it being so far remote 
from the scenes of the conflict. Finding no safety 
here, he removed further north, but messengers 
were sent after him from Wamesit and he was 
induced to return to Pawtucket, where he remained 
a short time, and then in September, 1677, went 
to Canada. 

Did the apostle Eliot visit the Indians who 
came to the Namoskeag to fish ? Mr. Potter, in 
his History of Manchester, assumes that he did, 
for the reason that Eliot had expressed a strong 
desire to do so, and employed a man to cut a road 
from Nashaway to Namaske. One would on 
first thought conclude, as did Potter, that the work 



on this path began at the place now known as 
Nashua. But that was not the case. The only 
Nashaway of Eliot's time was the Nashaway 
tribe of Indians located on or near Wesha- 
kum pond or lake, about two miles from a white 
settlement, at Lancaster, Mass. A mission had 
been established at this place and Eliot went there 
often to preach, and was at times accompanied by 
Mr. Gookin. Eliot said it was a round-about way 
to get to the great fishing place, which he located 
some three score miles to the north. The man 
employed to cut the road passed through Souhegan, 
but through which part is not mentioned. If the 
path was cut on a direct line from Nashaway 
to Namoskeag, he would have passed through 
what is now Amherst. There does not seem to 
have been any tribe of Indians on the Souhegan, 
only as they came there on their hunting ex- 
cursions. 

Mr. Potter further assumes that Eliot after- 
wards came here and established schools and 
preaching, and he bases this presumption on the 
statement of Gookin, who says " there were preach- 
ing and schools at Namkeke," and Potter says : 
" Who was there to preach and establish schools 
here except the Rev. John Eliot ?" The difficulty 
with this presumption is, that Gookin had no 
reference in any manner to Namoskeag, on the 
Merrimack, in New Hampshire. Wamesit was 
also called Namkeke, and Gookin says in the same 
communication, quoted by Potter, that there were 
preaching and schools at Namkeke or Wamesit. 
The Namkeke to which Gookin referred was at 
the junction of the Concord and Merrimack rivers, 
in the present town of Tewksbury, Mass. Mr. 
Potter says: "The Nashuas occupied the lands 
upon the Nashua, and the intervales upon the 
Merrimack, opposite and below the mouth of that 
river," and that Nashua means "the river with a 
pebbly bottom." The only Nashua Indians, how- 
ever, that had any existence were, as we have said, 
on Weshakum lake. They did not take their 
name from the river near which the}^ resided, as 
many of the tribes did, but the river took its name 
from the Nashaway Indians. The name was given 
to them on account of their location ; they were 
inland or Nipmuck Indians. Nippe, water, was 
applied to the ponds, and Nipmuck to the tribe 



194 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



that resided upon or near these ponds. Their loca- 
tion was between the Massachusetts or shore 
Indians and the tribes that resided upon the Con- 
necticut river. Nashaway is from the Indian, 
Nsawiwi (pronounced Nansawewe), and means 
"between," and was appHed to this tribe for the 
reason that they were located between the shore 
and river Indians. The same word is used to 
denote the points of the compass, as northwest, 
northeast, etc. ; Pabonki, the north ; Waji-nahilot, 



letter in the first four is k, and in the other four 
it is 1. They had two kinds of substantives, viz: 
the names of animate and personified things, and 
the names of inanimate things ; also animate and 
inanimate adjectives and verbs that are made to 
agree with the substantive accordingly. These 
substantives are distinguished by the terminations 
of the plurals, which are always k for the ani- 
mate, and 1 for the inanimate. The languages 
of the Massachusetts and Narragransett Indians 




POLICE STATION, MANCHESTER. 



the east; Nsawiwi|pel)onkik ta"waji-nahilot, north- 
east, at, to, or from the northeast, literally, be- 
tween the north and the east. 

One not conversant with the various prefixes 
and suffixes used in the Indian language would 
likely fall into many errors, not only in the or- 
thography, hut in the etymology, as has been the 
case with writers on these subjects. In the 
Abenaki language, there are eight terminations 
for the plurals of their nouns, namely: ak, ik, ok, 
k, al, ol, il, 1. It will be noticed that the final 



have different suffixes to denote the plurals. 
The word au-ke is the one that has caused the 
most errors in the etymologv of places that now 
bear the Indian name in New Hampshire. Au-ke 
was a word denoting ground, land, or place on the 
land. The French orthography of the word was 
a-ki, pronounced au-ke. The terminations ke 
and ki are the same. Au-ke was never used in 
connection with a water location, for which ke 
and kek were used. It will be noticed that the 
difference between these is the suppression of the 



]VILLE7"S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



19s 



first syllable au. Kek was used to denote the 
localitv. The final letter k had the force of the 
prepositions, at, to, or from. In the Massachusetts 
lanijuage et was the termination for the jjreposi- 
tion. Au-ke was used in a broader sense for coun- 
try or reg^ion, as Winnepes-aukee, or lake reo;ion. 
Ki or ke was more limited in its application, apply- 
ing more particularly to a farm, a place, or a 
definite piece of land, as Wenos-ki, onion land. 

Namoskek, and not namos-auke, was the cor- 
rect wav of spelling the great Amoskeag falls. It 
means •* at the fishing place." The kek has a 
(jutteral sound, and is so much like keas: that that 
/ termination is generally used. 

Penacook is from the Massachusetts word 
penayi (crooked) and tegw, a word used in compo- 
sition for river. Sepo, or sebo, was river when used 
independently, but when as a termination for a 
river, tegw was the word. This, being sounded 
with the gutteral tone, is so much like cook that 
it has been supplanted by the termination cook, 
viz : Penacook, Contoocook, Coaticook, etc. If 
Penacook means crooked river, than the true 
Indian orthography would be Penayitegw. 

Massabesic is from massa, or, as it is some- 
times expressed, msi (large), or mamsi (vast), and 
nebe (lake or pond), and ik, which gives it its local 
term. 

Unconoonuc is probably from kuncannow- 
et (breast), the termination uc from the plural ok, 
the breasts. 

Cohas brook, from coa, a pine tree, with the 
diminutive, coas, or cohas, "little pine tree brook." 

Our historians have presumed that Wonalan- 
cet and his people joined the St. Francis tribe, 
which were the remnant of the Abenakis tribe 
that had removed to Canada and settled on the 
St. Francis river, but this does not seem to have 
been the fact. The Pennacooks, occupying the 
Merrimack river valley, and coming from the tribes 
of Massachusetts, were called by the Abenakis the 
Patsuikets, the meaning of this being, "those who 
had established themselves in that locality i)y 
fraud." The territory occupied bv the Pennacooks 
was clainu'd as the hunting and fishing ground of 
the Indians of Maine, who were a part of the 
Abenakis family, and they came to the falls to fish 
in the spring and early summer; they camped on 



the hill east of the falls. Thev must have orathered 
there in great numbers, and were not only pre- 
pared to fish, but to fight in case of attack by the 
Mohawks. This tribe suffered more from the Mo- 
hawks than any other eastern Indians, and in prep- 
aration for defence they concealed large quanti- 
ties of arrow and spear points in the ground, many 
of which have been found in graves, which served 
as arsenals. On the occasions of these annual 
fishing excursions they became acquainted with the 
Penaeooks or Patsuikets, and on their removal to 
Canada continued to treat them as their friends. 

When Wonalancet and his tribe went to Can- 
ada, they doubtless located on the shores of 
Umbagog lake. Pere Maurault, in his " Histoire 
des Abenakis," gives the etymology of the word, 
and says it is from the word Nidobakik, — " the lake 
of my comrades" — from nidoba, friend. This lake 
was the division between the Abenakis and the 
Patsuikets. After remaining some eight years on 
the shores of Umbagog lake, Wonalancet, in 1685, 
returned to his old seat at Wamesit, poor, disheart- 
ened, and old. lie received some aid from the 
colony of Massachusetts, and died about 1 700, 
near the age of eighty years. 

Passaconaway's oldest son, Nanamocomuck, 
who had been at the head of the small tribe of Nip- 
mucks at Wachusett, was living in 1663 at Groton, 
which was near the seat of Passaconaway. On the 
2ist of October of that year a tract of land one 
quarter of a mile square was granted to him. 
One hundred acres, including the place where he 
then lived, called his planting ground, was laid out. 

He later removed to the Amariscoggin in 
Maine, and joined the Abenakis remaining on that 
river. His son Kancamagus, or Hawkins, joined 
his father at that place, and thus virtually ended 
the history of the tribe of Indians of the Merrimack. 

Before the great epidemic in 161 3 made such 
havoc among the Indians of New England, the 
Pawtucket tribe, including all those under Passa- 
conaway, numbered about 3000 men. The great 
sickness destroyed them to such an extent that in 
1674 there were only about 250 men beside wo- 
men and children, and it is said that Wonalancet, 
when he finally left for Canada, had only eight 
men that composed his once powerful tribe. 

If any of the blood of Passaconaway's tribe 



196 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



remains, it is mixed with the white blood of the 
citizens of the Province of Quebec, and if they 
come back to us, it is not with the war-whoop and 
scalping knife of their fathers but in peace, to find 
honest employment in the mighty industries of 
civilization that have sprung up all along the banks 
of the profound Merrimack, where beautiful and 
happy homes have supplanted the wigwams of 
this peculiar and unfortunate people. 



ST. PAUL'S M. E. CHURCH. — The first 
Methodist Episcopal Church in Manchester 
was organized at the Center, East Manchester, in 
1829, the second in 1839. In 1840 a chapel was 
built on the corner of Hanover and Chestnut streets. 




Methodist Episcopal Church, with Rev. J. M- 
Buckley, now editor of the Christian Advocate, as 
pastor. In 1875 the Tabernacle M. E. Church 
was established, having as successive pastors Revs. 
J. B. Hamilton, L. E. Gordon, and O. S. Baketel. 
In 1882 these two societies united, and the present 
structure and parsonage were built. The following 
clergymen' have been pastors successively since 
1840: Revs. John Jones, Silas Green, James Mor- 
row, Samuel Kelly, L. D. Barrows, C. N. Smith, 
Silas Ouimby, Justin Spaulding, Elisha Adams, H. 
H. Hartwell, Richard Rust, Henry Hill, John 
Currier, J. M. Buckley, Jonathan Hall, W. H. 
Thomas, H. L. Kelsey, D. C. Babcock, E. A. 
Smith, James Pike, C. S. Pitblado, and G. N. Nor- 
ris. Rev. Mr. Babcock repaired the Elm-street 
church and Rev. G. N. Norris paid a final debt 
thereon. In 1879 Rev. E. A. Drew became pastor 
and May i, 1882, St. Paul's church, corner of 
Union and Amherst streets, was occupied. His 
successors have been Rev. J. M. Avann, J. A. Wil- 
liams, J. M. Durrcll and C. D. Hills. The church 
and parsonage are valued at $40,000. Improve- 
ments to the value of over $2,000 were made in 
the summer of 1895. 

The Quarterlv Conference, the highest local 
authority of the church, is composed of the follow- 
ing: Trustees, — B. F. Piper, president; John Ro- 
bertson, secretary; O. D. Knox, treasurer; C. C. 
Babbitt, Miron B. McAllister, George Dearborn, 
C. P. Trickey, Frank T. Dickey, and George C. 
Kemp. Class Leaders, — Thomas Grundy, Miss 
A. Bernette Brown, George E. Cheney, F. R. 
Vose, M. B. McAllister, A. P. Tasker, J. Edgar 
Montgomery, Mrs. L. B. Sanborn, F. T. Dickey, 
George C. Kemp and Mrs. Emma F. Smith. 
Stewards, — H. M. Woods, Thomas Stafford, O- 
W. Cushman, C. H. Cushman, G M. Morey, M.D., 
F. R. Vose, George A. Young, A. B. Johnson, 
A. G. Hood, Hugh W. Flack, C. H. Babbitt and 
Georije W. Lewis. 



bl. PAULS iM. E. CHURCH, iMANCHE.sTER. 



This was removed to the corner of Pine and Merri- DEV. CHARLES DUDLEY HILLS, D. D., 

mack streets. In 1842 the Elm-street building was ^ ^ was born in East Hartford, Conn. There 

erected. In 1855 the North Elm street M. E. he attended the common schools and the academy, 

Society was formed. In 1862 the two Elm-street and worked also on a farm and in the paper mill, 

societies united under the name of St. Paul's He spent two years at the Providence Conference 



WILLET'S SOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



197 



Academy at East Greenwich, R. I., and graduated father's house, where he built several model loco- 
from the Classical High School of Hartford, and motive engines of the American type. One of 
with honor from Wesleyan University, Middle- these, which was but five inches long, was complete 
town, in 1863. Mr. Hills joined the New England in every detail, with a tubular boiler exhausting 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in into the smokestack, reverse gear, and link move- 
ment. Miniature yachts and steam launches also 
occupied much of his time, and these he sold in 
order to purchase tools. When between fifteen 
and sixteen years of age he became a clerk in the 
Seventh Ward National bank of New York city, 
in which institution he rapidly rose, filling various 
positions, including that of settling clerk at the 
clearing house, up to assistant receiving teller. 
But this life became monotonous, and at the age 
of nineteen years he entered the office of Mahlan 
Randolph, New York city, where he remained 
some years and obtained a valuable experience in 
various branches of engineering work. After 




REV. CHARLES D. HILLS, D. D. 

1865, and the same year married Miss Emma J. 
Martin of Westfield, Mass. He has had pastoral 
charges in Northampton, Springfield, Worcester, 
Lynn, Lowell, and Boston. He was for six years 
in the Troy Conference at Pittsfield, Mass., and 
Schenectady, N. Y. From Pittsfield he was 
transferred to the New Hampshire Conference 
and appointed to St. Paul's church in Manchester. 




JAMES B. THURSTON. 



TAMES B. THURSTON was born in Easton, 
*J Penn., April 20, 1853, his parents removing 
to New York city during his early childhood. 

The common school education which he received having become the chief engineer in the office, he 
was supplemented by diligent reading and study, resigned and started in business for himself as a 
especially of mathematical and mechanical works, mechanical engineer and patent solicitor. He was 
In early boyhood he developed marked talent for successful in a high degree, and his business grew 
mechanics and fitted up a small shop in his so rapidly and made such inroads upon his health 



igS 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



that in 1882 he was compelled to seek a change of and two children, Belle and John Donald, have 
climate. After a year's rest in Concord he opened been added to the family, 
an office there, and early in 1895 removed to Man- 
chester, where he has built up a remarkably fine 

business, which extends over America and Europe, 

.,,.,,. , A ^ ■ AA/"ILLIAM H. MARA, son of Henrv and 

with branch ofnces and correspondents in many Yy 

countries " " 



r, ■ ^ I I u • A ■ Mary Mara, was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 

Being a natural born mechanic, and ^^ , t . 

. , . • 1-1 November 1864. His parents comino- to Man- 
wide experience in mechanical t r s. 



possessing a wide experience in m 
engineering and an intimate acquaintance with 
the intricacies of patent law, Mr. Thurston has 
been enabled to render great assistance to hun- 
dreds of New Hampshire inventors. 



TOHN A. McCRILLIS, son of John B. and 
^ Mary S. McCrillis, was born in Haverhill, 
Mass., Sept. 11, 1845. One year later his parents 




JOHN A. M CRILI.IS. 




moved to Manchester, and he has since lived 
here, being now a member of the firm of J. B. 
McCrillis & Son. He was married Oct. 9, 1872, 
to Miss Mary M. Pearson of Newton, Mass., the Knights of Columbus, 



WILLIAM H. MARA. 

Chester when he was four years of age, he was 
educated in the common schools of this city and 
at the New Hampshire Business College. After 
leaving school he was employed for about a year 
in the Manchester Print Works, and then he 
learned the tailoring business with D. A. Plumer, 
with whom he remained about five years. In 
March, 1887, he formed a partnership with 
Richard J. Gallagher, and this relation continued 
until the latter's death, in May, 1891, since which 
time Mr. Mara has carried on the business alone. 
Nov. 28, 1893, he married Miss Pasha Sutton of 
Manchester, a native of Wales. Mr. Mara is a 
member of the Amoskeag Veterans, the Elks, and 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



199 



HENRY B. FAIRBANKS, son of Hon. A. G. of that organization. Mr. Fairbanks is Past 
and Harriet A. Fairbanks, was born in Man- Grand of Wildey Lodge No. 45, I. O. O. F. ; Past 
Chester Oct. 10, 1847, and his education was Commander of Grand Canton Ridgely No. 2, 
received in the north grammar and high schools Patriarchs Militant ; a member of the Improved 
of this city. Entering the service of the Daniels Order of Red Men, and of the Amoskeag Vet- 
Hardware Company at the age of sixteen, he erans ; and was commissary sergeant on Major 
remained there five and a half years and then went Burnham's staff. In politics he is a Republican, 
to work for the John B. Varick Company. In and he has served two terms in the city council 




from Ward 6. Mr. 
Fairbanks was mar- 
ried to Miss Fannie 
M. Daniels of Man- 
chester, and they have 
had two children : a 
son, now deceased, 
and a daughter, Elsie 
D., who is a student 
at Wellesley College. 



T' 



1 87 1 he went into 
])artnership with Reed 
P. Silver in the manu- 
facture of hardware, 
and on the dissolution 
of the firm, at the end 
of a year, he engaged 
in the stove business 
with William T. Fol- 
som. This relation 
CO n t i n ued for five 
years, or until Mr. 
Fairbanks became en- 
gaged as an auctioneer. 
He had at last found 
his true vocation, and 
it was not long before 
his reputation as a 
ready and skilful auc- 
tioneer began to 
spread throughout 
New England. Mr. 
Fairbanks occupies 
large warerooms on 
Hanover street. He 
has made a specialty 
of real estate sales, 
and some of the heav- 
iest transactions in 

that line in New Hampshire have been conducted ture of solemnity and hilarity which wc would find 
through him. In addition to his auctioneering it difficult to understand. After the reading of 
business, he has for the past ten years been very the Scriptures and prayer, liquor would be handed 
successful as a conductor of tourist excursions, round, and before dawn the joke and the laugh 
and his tireless energy and public spirit have made would break in upon the slumbers of the dead, 
him prominent on many important occasions, There was always a large attendance at a funeral, 
such, for instance, as Merchants' Week, when he Sermons were rarely delivered on the occasion, but 
has often served as chief marshal. He also served before the prayer strong drink was served to the 
as chief marshal at the semi-centennial celebration mourners and to the whole congregation. The 
of Manchester in 1896. As director of the Board same was done after prayer and at the grave, 
of Trade he has contributed much to the efficiency as well as at the house after the burial. 



HENRV B. KAIRliANKS. 



HE funeral ob- 
servances of the 
early settlers were of 
a character in some 
respects peculiar. 
When death entered 
their homes all work 
ceased in the neigh- 
borhood, and the peo- 
ple gathered at the 
house of mourning to 
observe a c u s t o m 
which they had 
brought with them 
from Ireland. These 
wakes often exhibited 



an incongruous mix- 



MARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D. 



MARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D., been in her studying medicine, she resolved to 

daughter of Charles and Rebecca Farnum compensate them in a measure by settling nearer 

(Batchelder) Danforth, was born in Derry May i8, home, and at their wish she began the practice of 

1850. Her parents removed to Manchester when her profession in Manchester. So averse, however, 

she was four years of age, and there she attended was she to their choice of her home city that at 

the public schools, leaving them in 1S66, when she first she actually did not wish to succeed. Time 



entered Pinkerton 
A c a d e m )• , from 
which she was grad- 
uated in 1869. A 
scion of old Puritan 
stock, her parents' 
wish was law to her, 
and she never dis- 
obeyed them in the 
slightest particular 
until she decided to 
study medicine. 
Knowing that nei- 
ther of them would 
approve of such a 
life work, it required 
far more courage on 
her part to set aside 
their wishes than to 
face the opposition 
which was said at that 
time to be so formid- 
ably arrayed against 
the woman phvsi- 
cian. With her frail 
physique and her 
natural diffidence she 
seemed poorly fitted 
to meet the hard- 




MARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D. 



soon made a differ- 
ence, however, and 
if there is anything 
today of which she is 
proud, next to her 
being the first wo- 
man member of the 
New Hampshire 
Medical Society, it 
is that she is a prac- 
titioner in Manches- 
ter. Here her early 
schoolmates made 
her welcome. Here 
her neighbors placed 
their lives and health 
in her hands. Here, 
during the first year, 
she earned in cash 
four times the in- 
come she could have 
received in the same 
city as a teacher. 
Here, in 1878, with- 
out so much aS ask- 
ing for the honor, 
other women having 
sought it in vain, she 
was elected to the 



ships and struggles of a practitioner's life. Her Manchester Medical Society and became its secre- 

parents had hoped to see her become a successful tary, and here also it was announced to her that 

teacher, but just as they began to realize these she had been unanimously elected to membership 

hopes she left everything and, in 1871, entered the in the time-honored and conservative old New 

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Grad- Hampshire Medical Society, and that too without 

uating in 1875, two fields of labor were opened to any petition on her part other than patient, modest, 

her, the one as resident physician of a hospital in daily toil. From here too she went as a delegate, 

a Western capital and the other as missionary in in 1884, to the American Medical Congress. Here, 

Siam. The latter would have been her choice, she has not only practised, but has built a home, 

but realizing how disappointed her parents had and proved that a woman is no less a home-maker 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



and a housekeeper for being an active daily practi- 
tioner of medicine. Of these two lines of activity 
she holds to the one as steadily as to the other, 
demonstrating the fact that they do not conflict 
but are really co-ordinate in a woman's greatest 
success. Here, again, she has not only worked for 
the health of others but she has established her 
own and acquired therewith unusual powers of 
endurance, without which wealth and success are 
but ciphers on the wrong side of the numeral. 
And last, but by no means least, it was here that 
her parents gave her their dying blessing, assuring 
her she had been a hundredfold nearer them be- 
cause of her devotion U^ her high calling. 



Mary Louisa, who married Frank J. Corwin and 
resides in Haverhill and has one child, a son, born 
Oct. 2 1, 1894; Charles C, who died young, and 
Sarah Howe, who is assistant in the postoffice at 
the Lower Village. For some years Mr. Couch 
was engaged in the Home sawmill, and later he 
operated the sawmill at the Lower Village now in 
the possession of W. W. Poor. Toward the close 
of his life he occupied a store in the village that 
had been opened by the Howes just opposite C. S. 
Pettee's. This building was once the vestry-room 
and school of the Congregational society and 



JACOB SAWYER COUCH, the son of John 
^ S. and Mary (Brown) Couch, was born in 
Chester, N. H., July 28, 1828. The lineage of tiie 
surname is traced back through grandfather and 
great-grandfather, Jacob Couch of Newburyport, 
to a generation of sea captains, one of whom was 
drowned just off the coast there on returning from 
his sixteenth voyage. When his vessel was 
wrecked all the crew perished, except one sailor who 
was washed ashore on a piece of the deck furniture. 
Captain Couch had a large sum in gold on his 
person secured by a belt around his waist, and the 
weight of the coin dragged him down almost 
in sight of home. When a voung man, Jacob S. 
Couch worked with his father and brother in the 
Couch mills in Chester. He had some musical 
ability, and was a member of the choir in the 
Methodist church at Deny after removing from 
Chester in 1856. For about a year he was in 
partnership with his cousin, Nathaniel Brown, in a 
store in Derry Lower Village which Charles S. 
Pettee now occupies. Jan. 18, i860, he married 
Catherine Boyer Coolidge, daughter of Charles 
and Louisa Coolidge of Concord, Mass., and 
great-granddaughter of Joseph Coolidge of Boston, 
an ardent Son of Liberty and one of the Boston 
"Tea Party." She was born April 20, 1830, the 
second of ten children, in the house in which 
Ralph Waldo Emerson afterward lived many years. 
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Couch : 




JACOB S. COUCH. 



Stood by the church, having been moved into the 
village by A. McMurphy. Mr. Couch was a mem- 
ber of Nutfield Grange for many years and also of 
St. Mark's Lodge. He was very tender and affec- 
tionate in his domestic relations and always con- 
siderate of the feelings of others. His death 
occurred Sept. 18, 1892. Mrs. Couch, who iiad 
been an invalid for many years, lingered on, en- 
during her misfortune and infirmitv with much 
fortitude until April, 1894, when death released her. 



CAPTAIN DAVID WADSWORTH. 



CAPT. DAVID WADSWORTH was born 
in Worcester, Mass., Feb. 4, 1838, his parents 
being David Wadsworth, a native of Worcester, 
and Caroline E. (Metcalf) Wadsworth, He was 
educated in the common schools of Cambridge- 
boro and Richford, Vt., in which places he resided 
during his boyhood. 
He also attended the 
high school at Rich- 
ford and Dr. Cros- 
by's private school at 
Nashua. On the 
breaking out of the 
Civil War he enlisted 
with the third New 
Hampshire volun- 
teers from Nashua, 
entering the service 
as a private and be- 
ing at once promoted 
to sergeant. Nov. 
16, 1862, he was made 
second lieutenant ; 
May 16, 1S63, first 
lieutenant; April 16, 
1864, captain; and 
was honorably dis- 
charged Sept. 28, 
1864. He served in 
Sherman's expedi- 
tion through the 
South and in the Ar- 
mv of the James, 
taking part in the 
battles of Ellis Island, 
Port Royal, Bluffton, Jehassc, James Island, Seces- 
sionville, Pocatsligo, Stoney Inlet, Morris Island, 
Fort Wagner, Drury's Bluff, Wiers Bottom, Pe- 
tersburg, Hatch's Run, and Deep Bottom. He 
was wounded slightly at Drury's Bluff. 

The captain has a wonderful memory cover- 
ing the important events of the war, and this 
is augmented by a concise record book of his com- 
pany, kept by the clerk of the organization and 
now held by the captain. He has assisted manv a 




CAPT. DAVID WADSWORTH. 



worthy comrade to identify himself with the ser- 
vice and obtain justice by this same record. 

Captain Wadsworth is a locksmith by trade 
and previous to 1877 was employed by the Nashua 
Lock Company. That year he was appointed 
jailor for Hillsborough county and removed to 

Manchester to take 
charge of the new 
jail built by the coun- 
ty. This position he 
has held ever since 
and he has had re- 
markable success in 
managing the pris- 
oners in his custody. 
He conducts a model 
penal institution 
which is a credit to 
the county. He is a 
man of wide acquaint- 
ance and lasting pop- 
ularity, strengthened 
by a social dispo- 
sition and strict in- 
tegrity. He was a 
member of the state 
legislature from 
Nashua in 1875-76, 
serving as chairman 
of the committee on 
military accounts. 
Representing Ward 
6, Manchester, in the 
same body during 
1 893-94, he was chair- 
man of the committee on county affairs. He has 
always acted with the Republican party. His re- 
ligious affiliations are with the Baptist church, and 
he is a member of Louis Bell Post, G. A. R. 

Jan. 5, i860, he married Sarah A., daughter 
of Laban Moore of Nashua; she died June 10, 
1866. Jan. 18, 1873, he married Mrs. Mary E. 
Buel, daughter of Benjamin and Elvira (Duntley) 
Lund of Milford. They have one daughter, who 
is Mrs. Carl W. Anderson of Manchester. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OP NUTFIELD. 



263 



THE JOHN McMURPHV GENEALOCrV. 
— Alexander McMurphy, according to the 
History of Acworth, N. H., and the traditions of 
Gardner Murphy of Boston, was the son of Squire 
John MacMurphv, the first justice of Londonderry, 
and was born July 16, 1 71 7. His father gave liim in 
the Half Mile Range two inmdred acres of land, 
southeast of the East Village in Derry. This land 
was deeded gratis, or valuable considerations not 
mentioned, back to the father Aug. 25, 1742. The 
deed shows Alexander MacMurphy to have been 
a cabinet maker at that time, and probably unmar- 
ried. About this time Squire John MacMurphy 
was buying land at Massabesic pond and had built 
a sawmill and gristmill there, and on Feb. 15, 
1750 (acknowledged before Robert Boyes March 
30, 1 751)' '^^' deeded the mill property, including 
three islands in Massabesic pond, to his son, Alex- 
ander MacMurphy, in consideration of love, good 
will, and affection. Alexander MacMurphy mar- 
ried Isabel Craig, and had the following children : 

(1) James, who married Margaret Graham of Chester, Jan. 
I, 1789, with issue as follows: Betsy 1789, Peggy 1791, 
William 179.5, James Jr. 1797, Alexander 1796, John iSoi, 
Mary C. 1805. 

(2) Jane, married James (iraham of Chester, with issue as 
follows: Elizabeth 1784, Ale.xander, John, Mary 1780 and 
Sarah : her second husband was Samuel Crombie, by whom she 
had one child, Samuel Crombie Jr. 

(2) John, born in 1756, whose descendants are herewith 
given. He was the grandfather of Gardner Murphy. 

(4) William, who sympathized with the King in the Ameri- 
can Revolution, and disappeared. 

Alexander MacMurphy's will was proven at 
probate court June 29, 1763. Robert MacMur- 
phy, James MacMurphy, and James Craige were 
the witnesses. All the property was left to his 
wife, Isabel, for the support of the children. 

John McMurphy, second son of Alexander 
MacMurphy, and grandson of Squire John Mac- 
Murphy, was born in Londonderry in 1756. He 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He mar- 
ried Sarah Graham of Chester, N. H., and moved 
to Acworth about i 784. Their children were : 

(i) William, born 1784: married Laura Shumway of 
Charleston : moved to Alstead, and was a farmer the rest of his 
life, dying in 1859. Children of William and Laura Murphy: 
(a) Sarah, born 1815, married Rev. Giles Bailey, died in 1848. 

18 



(b) William, born in 1818, married Sophia Walker of Langdon ; 
moved to Boston ; was an accountant. (c) David, died young, 
(d) Caroline, born 1824, was drowned in 1841. (e) Gardner, 
born 1-826, married Hannah B. Flagg of Hollis, N. H. : settled 
in Boston : a merchant. (f ) George S., born 1829, married 
Sojjhia Richards of Ellsworth. Me., died 1879. (g) Harriett 
Maria, born 1832, died 1848, unmarried. 

(2) Alexander, born about 1786 : was a soldier in the war 
of r8i2 ; married Esther Chandler of Alstead, where he lived 
until his death : he was a farmer : he had no children. 

{3) John, married Theresa Garfield of Langdon, and had 
these children : Nancy, John, James, Theresa ; none married 
but James, and all dead ; James, who was born about 1824 and 
died about 1851, was a physician, married Miss Hart of Ver- 
mont and settled in Chester, Vt. ; their children were : James, 
dead, and Julian, who took the name of his stepfather, Adams, 
and is in the government service in Washington. 

(4) David, born Dec. 28, 1798, married Mary Goss of 
Dummerston, Vt., in 1833 : lived in Boston : was a State House 
messenger ; died Sept. 26, 1877. His children were: (a) Charles 
Austin, born Oct. 10, 1834 ; (b) David, Jr., died at the age of 
ig : Charles Austin married Mary White Ashley of Salem, June 
9, 1870, moved to Groton, Mass., and is a farmer: his children 
are: (a) Mary Ellen Murphy, born April 2, 1871, a teacher ; 
(b) David Enos. born Nov. 2, 1872, a farmer; (c) Jennie Ashley, 
born Aug. 30, 1878. 

(5) George, born 1801, married Polly Maynard of Orwell, 
Vt., July 19, 1829, was a carpenter, settled in Claremont, N. H., 
died Aug. 6, 1881, leaving two children: (a) George, born Dec. 
19, 1830. a carpenter, unmarried: (b) E. Darwin, born lune 4, 
1834, married Frances K. Dane of Claremont, Nov. 5, 1854, is 
a pattern-maker and has one son, Charles A. Murphy, who was 
born Oct. 9, 1867, and was married Jan. 25, 1887, to Ida L 
Patrick of Danville, P. Q., is a machinist and has one child, a 
daughter, Marion Dane, born Dec. 5, 1893. 

(6) Polly, married Jesse Williams and moved to'Ilieresa. N.Y. 

(7) Betsey, married Wales Jewett of Langdon and nio\ed 
lo New York. 

(8) .Sally, (lied young. 

Children of Giles and Sarah Murphy Bailey: (i) Caroline, 
died young, unmarried: (2) George W., born March 20, 1848, 
married Mary Lord of Maine, is a dry goods merchant in Pitts- 
field, Mass. : has no children. 

Children of William and Sophia Walker Murpiiy : ( i ) a son, 
died young : (2) Carrie, who married William E. Hutchins of 
Cambridge, a lawyer; they have two daughters. May, 11 years, 
and Helen, 9 years. 

Children of Gardner and Hannah Flagg Murphy: (i) 
Charles E., born 1855, married Marietta Ladd of Boston, is a 
merchant in Boston, has no children : (2) Frederick F., born 
1858, unmarried, a merchant ; (3) Gardner E., born 1861, mar- 
ried Louise Emerson of Boston, is a merchant in Boston and has 
two chiUlren: Gardner and Thomas Emerson; (4) Grace H, 
born 1863, unmarried. 

Children of George S. and Sophia Richards Murphy: (i) 
Hattie M., born i860, unmarried, lives in Cambriilge, Mass. ; 
(2) Laura Louise, born 1862. died 1865. 



THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LONDONDERRY. 



IN 1739, twenty years after the arrival of the even social intercourse between the pastors. But 

first settlers of Nutfield, about forty families thev were Scotchmen, and it was not to be expected 

living in the western part of the town petitioned that either party would yield. In 1741 Windham 

to be set off as a separate religious society, and on was set off as a separate parish from the East 

Feb. 25, 1740, the New Hampshire legislature Parish. As far as church politv and denomina- 

incorporated the West Parish of Londonderry, tional lines are concerned, the West Parish, now 

The first steps toward its organization had been the Presbyterian church, Londonderrv, is the lineal 

taken five years before, so that the church actually descendant of the original Presbyterian church 

dates from 1735. This division in the original founded in 1719. A new church edifice was begun 

parish was caused partly by the location of the in 1769. It was located near the schoolhouse in 

church edifice, which was in the eastern portion of District No. i, not far from where Frank A. 

the town, and partly by the dissatisfaction felt by Hardy's residence now stands. Although the e.x- 

some of the parishioners with Rev. William terior was completed the following year, the 

Davidson, the pastor of the " old church." Rev. interior was not finished until 1780. Pews were 

David MacGregor, son of Rev. James MacGregor, made in 1787, and sold in the aggregate for more 

took the pastoral charge of the newlv formed than $5,000. This house stood without much 

church and society. The house in which he alteration till 1845, when it was taken down and 

generally preached was on Aiken's Range, west of removed to the centre of the town, on the Mam- 

Pinkerton Academy. He occasionally preached, moth road, and fitted up for a town hall. The 

however, in the Hill meeting-house, about a mile session house was also removed and converted 

west of Aiken's Range. Although the town was into a dwelhng on the same road, about two miles 

divided into two parishes, east and west, parish north of the new church. In the winter of 

lines were wholly disregarded, forty families of the 1836-37, steps were taken for the erection of a 

West Parish being allowed to attend and be taxed new church, the building being completed in the 

for w^orship in the East Parish, and about the same fall of 1837, at a cost of about $4,000. The land 

number in the East were allowed to attend and be for the site, originally laid out to David Morrison, 

taxed for worship in the West. This division was the gift of Robert Mack. In i860 the church 

lasted until the close of Mr. MacGregor's ministry was repaired at a cost of about $2,000. Rev. David 

in 1777. For many years these families were ac- MacGregor, the first minister of the West Parish, 

customed to meet and pass each other on their way died May 30, 1777. During his ministry the ses- 

to church, and sometimes these meetings were sion consisted of the following men, who were at 

attended with ludicrous scenes. Persons would different periods consecrated to the office of ruling 

go miles on foot, carrying their shoes in their elder: James McKeen, James Leslie, James Clark, 

hands, and putting them on just before reaching James Nesmith, James Lindsley, George Duncan, 

the church. Two or more would use a single John Duncan, James Taggart, John Gregg, Robert 

horse, each riding a short distance, and then hitch- Morrison, John Hunter, John McKeen, Samuel 

ing the animal for the other to ride on when he Anderson, Samuel Fisher, John Aiken, and James 

came up. It is said that two lovers, one belong- Reed. Shortly after Mr. MacGregor's death the 

ing to the East and the other to the West "forty-family quarrel" between the two parishes 

Parish, though engaged to be married, remained came to an end, the legislature in 1778 repealing 

single all their lives and died of old age, be- the law allowing that singular interchange of fam- 

cause they could not agree which church to ilies. Rev. William Morrison, D. D., succeeded 

attend. The division, continuing nearly forty Mr. MacGregor as pastor. He was ordained Feb. 

years, was productive of evils long felt in the town, 12, 1783, and died March 9, 18 18, after a pastorate 

occasioning animosities between the members of of thirty-five years. Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., 

the two societies, and preventing ministerial and who had recently resigned the presidency of Dart- 

204 



WILLBT'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



205 




PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LONDONDERRY. 



2o6 



IVILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



mouth College, was the next pastor. He was 
installed Jan. 15, 1822, and resigned in April, 1826, 
being succeeded by Rev. Amasa A. Hayes, who 
was ordained June 25, 1828, and died Oct. 23, 
1830. Since that year the pastors of the church 
have been : John R. Adams, 1831 to 1838; Tim- 
othy G. Brainerd, 1840 to 1855 ; William House, 
185710 1873; Luther B. Pert, 1875 to 1879; Ira 
C. Tyson, 1880 to 1883; Henry C. Fay, 1885 to 
1888; Frank E. Mills, 1889 to' 1892; Samuel F. 
French, 1893 to the present time. The church, 
which is now in a flourishing condition, has 
a membership of 135. The membership of 
the Sunday school is 107, and of the Christian 
Endeavor society, 31. In a sermon preached in 
1876, Rev. Luther B. Pert, at that time pastor of 
the church, notes : 

That the Presbyterianism of America, through its Scotch 
original in the church of Londonderry and others of Ulster 
origin, may be traced in some elements of its history to the 
primitive Christian church. 

That the Presbyterian church of America is not chargeable 
with anything real or imaginary respecting the antinomian con- 
troversy of 1637. nor respecting the witchcraft mania of Salem, 
culminating about 1692. This latter tragedy was in preparation 
here nearly at the time when they who founded Presbyterianism 
in America were defending the faith of Protestantism in the 
siege of Londonderry, Ireland. 

That the Presbyterian Church of Londonderry, N. H., if 
not the first, was among the very first to found Presbyterianism 
in this country. 

That the present I^resbyterian Church of Londonderry, 
N. H., is the only immediate representative of the Presbyterian 
founders of the town, since the transference of the East Parish 
to another denomination. 



master of the Eastern New Hampshire Pomona 
Grange, — the largest Pomona Granee in New Eng- 
land, — holding cacli office for two years. He was 
active in organizing the New Hampshire State 
Grange Fire Insurance Companv, in which lie is a 
director, and he is also a director in the Patrons' 
Relief Association. He has been the Slate Grange 
deputy of the first district for four years, and was 
assistant marshal three years and chief marshal the 
last two years of the State Grange fair. Mr. Hill 
is a member of St. Mark's Lodge, A. V . and A. M. 
From early boyhood he has attended the old Pres- 
byterian church on the hill in East Derry. In 
politics he is a Republican and so faithful to his 
civic duties that he has never missed an election. 
He has alwavs been a close observer of facts and 
for years has kept an accurate record of many 
things, such as the dates of notable storms, unusu- 
allv hot or cold davs, and other meteorological 
facts of especial interest to a farmer. Nov. 3, 
1869, Mr. Hill was united in marriage with Miss 
Lizzie H. Fitz, daughter of Luther Fitz of Ches- 
ter. Mrs. Hill was a teacher in the common 
schools previous to her marriage, and has served 
three years on the school board of Derry. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Hill are: Luther Fitz, 
born Oct. II, 1870, died Nov. 17, 1870; Emma 
Josephine and Ella Mav, born June 9, 1874, 
graduated at Pinkerton Academy June, 1894; 
Albert Lvon, born March 20, 1882. 



IT GRACE A. HILL, one of the prominent of- 
* *- ficials and workers in the Eastern New 
Hampshire Pomona Grange, was born Nov. 14, 
1839, on the homestead in Derry where he now 
resides. He is the son of Charles Hill of Chester 
and Hannah T. Hanson of Brookfield, N. H. His 
education was obtained in the district school and 
at Pinkerton Academy. In his 3^ounger days Mr. 
Hill engaged to some extent in the lumber busi- 
ness, but most of his life has been devoted to agri- 
culture. Ever since the starting of the Grange 
in New Hampshire he has been an active member. 
He was master of Nuttield Grange and overseer and 




COUNTV JAIL, MANCHESTER. 



WILLEVS BOOK 01' NUTFIELD. 



207 




HORACE A. HILL AND FAMILY. 



THE LONDONDERRY TORIES. 



AT a town meeting held in Londonderry April 
29. 17751 it was "voted that a committee of 
nine men be chosen to inquire into the conduct 
of those men that are thought not to be friends to 
the country. Captain Moses Barnett, John Mc- 
Keen, John Aiken, John Gilmore, Captain John 
Moor, Ensign James McGregore, George Dun- 
can, Jr., Captain Robert Moor and John Bell were 
this committee. Voted that the aforesaid com- 
mittee have no pay." In July, Robert McMurphy, 
Lieutenant John Pinkerton, John Nesmith, Cap- 
tain William Alison, James Ramsey and Peter 
Patterson were added to the committee, making- 
fifteen members in all. The appointment of so 
large a body shows the vigilance with which the 
citizens sought to guard against foes at home. 
There were only about twenty tories in town, most 
of them living in the English Range, though a few 
resided near the First Church. Among them 
Colonel Stephen Holland was the most prominent. 
He was a gentleman of good Irish family and had 
come to Londonderry when a young man and 
married into a family whose connections were 
rather numerous. He was a tavern-keeper and 
merchant, educated, wealthy and inlluential.and had 
been representative of the town. Holding as he 
did at the beginning of the Revolution both ci\il 
and military offices under the crown, he was early 
suspected of inclining to the cause of royalty. He 
was a very shrewd man, however, and so took 
measures to allay the suspicions of his fellow- 
townsmen. At a town meeting called for the pur- 
pose he made an eloquent speech denving his 
attachment to the British cause, and succeeded in 
quieting all fears. By a vote the citizens expressed 
tlieir satisfaction, and he was invested with new 
offices of trust. But it was not long before he 
openly joined the British in Boston, and his estates, 
including four farms, were confiscated by the act 
of Nov. 19, 1778. The same act also proscribed 
and banished Richard Holland, John Davidson, 
James Fulton. Thomas Smith and Dennis O'Hala, 
all of Londonderry. There is, however, no record 
of the confiscation of their property. John Clark, 
a tory living in the English Range, was sentenced 
to be confined for a time to his own premises. 



with lilierty only to attend church on Sunday. 
One day he ventured to step across his lines to 
pick up a hawk which he had shot, and for this he 
was heavily fined. During the height of the torv 
excitement there was a barn-raising on the hill in 
East Derry, and a conflict was feared between the 
tories of the English Range and the Pinkertons, 
Aikcns and Wallaces. But friend and foe raised 
the barn, imbibed the whiskey and departed for 
their homes in peace. The women of that day 
had their intense political sympathies as well as 
the men. It is saiti that the wife of Dr. Alexander 
Cummings "wished that the English Range, from 
its head to Beaver pond, ran ankle-deep in whig 
blood." After the battle of Bunkei' Hill manv of 
the tories became ardent patriots. As a class they 
were elderly men of wealth, education and respect- 
ability, some of them holding office under the 
crown, and it is not surprising that they should 
hesitate to go at once into rebellion. After the 
close of the war a question arose whether the 
tories who had fled from the country and given 
their aid to England should be allowed to return. 
The feeling against them was deep and bitter, and 
the popular sentiment was strong in opposition to 
their being tolerated in the country. In London- 
derry this feeling was peculiarlv strong. The citi- 
zens learning that, on the adoption of articles of 
peace, a clause had been inserted at the request of 
the British plenipotentiaries, that congress recom- 
mend that the several states make some provision 
for the return of the loyalists and refugees, a town 
meeting was immediatelv called, "to see if the 
town will take some effectual measures to prevent 
those men who have been the cause of so much 
desolation and bloodshed in the land, to return and 
dwell among us, antl enjov the blessings of peace 
and the sweets of libertv." At the meeting thus 
called, Mav 29, i 7S3, a unanimous vote was passed, 
"to instruct the representatives to use the utmost 
of their ]iower in the General Court, that the 
refugees have no libertv to come back to this state," 
and these instructions were drawn up and adopted 
bv the town, and addressed to Col. Daniel Reynolds 
and Archibald McMurphy, representatives in the 
legislature : 



20S 




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WILLErs BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



Gentlemen, Whereas, by an article in the preliminaries for 
peace between the United States of America and Great Britain, 
it is to be recommended by Congress to the several states to 
make some provision for the return of the royalists or refugees ; 
and we conceive that every state in the Union are to act thereon 
as they think best, and that nothing therein is binding on the 
]iart of the state: and as it is our undoubted right, at all times, 
to instruct our representatives : we do now solemnly, in town 
meeting, instruct you to use your influence in the General Court 
to prevent the return of all or any of the miscreant tories who 
have gone from this state to the enemy ; as the tories have been 
the principal cause of this long and bloody war. They have 
murdered our brethren in cold blood : they have burnt our towns, 
robbed and plundered our citizens, ravished our daughters, and 
been guilt}' of every sort of rapine and carnage that can be 
thought of: and by their lies, continually sent across the Atlan- 
tic Ocean, the war spun out to so great a length. We expect 
that you will use your best endeavors, that nothing may ever be 
done for those infernal wretches, by this state, further than to 
provide a gallows, halter and hangman for every one that dare 
to shew their vile countenances amongst us. 

Attest, William Anderson. Tuvu Vhvk. 

May 29. 1783. 



HON. NATHAN PARKER, son of Deacon 
Matthew and Sarah (Underwood) Parker, 
was born in Litchfield Nov. 21, 1808. His mother 
was a daughter of Judge James Underwood of 
that town. He was the youngest of si.x children, 
and his education was obtained at the public 
schools and in Henniker Academy. Going into 
business in Merrimack, he remained there until 
1840, when he removed to Manchester and began 
to take a leading part in building up the thriving 
town, which six years later was to become a city. 
He and his brother, James U. Parker, raised in 
Litchfield almost all the $50,000 capital of the 
Manchester bank, and upon its organization, Feb. 
3, 1845, he was chosen cashier, holding that posi- 
tion until 1865, when the bank was closed and the 
Manchester National bank organized. He became 
president of the latter institution, in which office 
he remained until his death. May 7, 1894. The 
Manchester National bank is an enduring monu- 
ment to the sagacity and integrity of Nathan 
Parker and his associates. Upon the organization 
of the Manchester Savings bank in 1845, Mr. 
Parker became its treasurer and held that position 
for nearly forty-eight years. At the time of his 



death he was the oldest bank president in the 
United States. Mr. Parker was one of the pioneer 
railroad men in New Hampshire, taking an active 
part in manv enterprises. He was one of the 
largest stockholders in the Concord & Montreal 
railroad, and was treasurer of the old Concord 
railroad for manv years. He was formerly also a 
director and the treasurer of the Manchester & 
Lawrence railroad, and for a long term of years a 
director of the Concord & Portsmouth railroad. 
Mr. Parker never sought political preferment, but 
he was elected to the board of selectmen in 1845, 
the year before the incorporation of the city and 
the year during which the present city hall was 
built, the old town hall having been destroyed bv 
fire in 1844. He represented Manchester in the 
state senate in 1855-56, and might have been 
president of that body had he so chosen. In 
1863-64 he was a member of the house of repre- 
sentatives. He was always a staunch Republican, 
although not an extreme partisan. Mr. Parker 
married, in September, 1837, Charlotte M. Riddle 
of Merrimack, granddaughter of Capt. Isaac 
Riddle, a wealthy farmer, mill owner, and con- 
tractor of Bedford, who built the first canal boat 
that was floated on the Merrimack river. Mrs. 
Parker died in 1859, leaving one son, Walter M. 
Parker, who is now president of the Manchester 
National l)ank. One who knew Nathan Parker 
well thus wrote of him at the time of his decease : 

In the death of Nathan Parker, Manchester loses a citizen 
who has always been assigned a first place among those who 
have given her an enviable reputation in financial and lousiness 
circles. He was a quiet, retiring man, who had no political 
ambition, no relish for show, no desire to be known outside the 
business in which he was engaged, and he devoted himself 
entirely and persistently to his calling ; but he was widely known, 
and wherever known he was highly respected. His integrity 
was never questioned, his sagacity seldom failed, and so success- 
ful was he in the management of his own affairs and in the dis- 
charge of the numerous trusts that were committed to him, that 
he came to be regarded by a large clientage as almost infallible. 
The banks which he established, and which were the objects of 
his greatest pride and closest devotion, grew under his skilful and 
conservative direction to be great financial institutions, and the 
other moneyeil enterprises with which he was identified were 
among the most successful of his time, a time when recklessness 
and incapacity often wrecked and ruined others. He was a 
kindlv man. and always ap|:>roachable and always pleasant, but 
never effusive or profuse in words. He made no enemies. 



IVIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



HIRAM FORSAITH, son of Robert and 
Elizabeth (Caldwell) Forsaith, was born In 
Goflfstown Sept. 6, 1820. He was educated in the 
public schools and at Pembroke Academy. Coming 
to Manchester in 1838, he was a clerk in a store 
until 1844, and then after two years as bookkeeper 
at Nashua he returned to this city as clerk and 
paymaster of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com- 
pany. He remained in this position until 1855, 
when he went into the hardware business. Six 
years later, in company with his brother, Samuel C, 




HIRAM FORSAITH. 



he started what is now known as the S. C. For- 
saith Machine Company. The partnership lasted 
four years, when they separated, his brother con- 
tinuing the business and Hiram starting a shop of 
his own in what was then known as Mechanics' 
row, where he manufactured wood-working ma- 
chinery for fourteen years. He afterward travelled 
for his brother and was for many years connected 
with the wood-working business and iron industry. 
He was a member of the common council in 
1865-66, being president of that body in the latter 
year. In 189 1 he was a member of the legislature 
and has served several terms on the board of asses- 



sors. He is one of the few surviving original 
members of the Franklin-Street Congregational 
Society, and is a member of Washington Lodge of 
Masons. Since 1857 he has been identified with 
the Amoskeag Veterans and has been captain of 
the organization. Feb. 17, 1845, he was married 
to Frances M., daughter of William and Sophia 
(Weston) Gregg of Antrim, who died in 1855. 
Two sons were born to them: Fred S., born May 
17, 1850, who married Eliza, daughter of Joseph 
Mclntire of Manchester, and Gregg, born July 17, 
1855, died Aug. 15, 1882. 



HTHE BEAR HUNT OF 1S07.— The last 
* successful bear hunt in the Nuffield region 
of New Hampshire took place early in March, 
1807. Two men who were out hunting in the 
northwestern part of Londonderry came upon the 
track of a bear and immediately started in pursuit, 
the animal "leading them only about two hundred 
yards. His course was due south, and after fol- 
lowing him four miles without bringing him 
within range of their guns the men relinquished 
the chase to four or five other hunters whom they 
chanced to meet. The latter pursued the bear ten 
miles, when he took refuge for the night in a 
swamp near Pelham meeting-house. Early the 
next morning a large party assembled to capture 
him, but he quickly left his retreat and retraced, 
in part, his steps of the previous dav. Still eluding 
his pursuers, he passed the second night in a 
swamp near the Windham meeting-house. On 
the third morning he started north and ran along 
the eastern boundary of Londonderry, followed by 
a crowd of men, boys, and dogs. Towards noon 
he took to a large pine tree near the site of the old 
church in Londonderry, and was killed by a shot 
from a gun in the hands of Deacon John Fisher. 
The carcass was taken to Daniel Gilchrist's house 
and dressed, when it was found to weigh two hun- 
dred pounds. As fifty men, all told, had been 
engaged in the chase, four pounds fell to the share 
of each. The skin was exchanged at Deacon 
Pinkerton's store for several gallons of whiskey, 
and the capture of the bear was duly celebrated 
by the crowd. 



THE THREE QUARTER MILE RANGE, 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY. 



THIS ransje of homesteads, occupied before 
the charter of Londonderry was granted, and 
probably not included in the deed of John Wheel- 
wright to the colony of Nutfield, remained for 
many 3'ears in doubtful ownership, the people of 
Haverhill claiming it and all that tract of land in the 
present township of Derrv lying east of a meridi- 
onal line passing through the most easterly 
corner of the English Range. The beginning of 
surveys was at the inlav of Capt. David Cargill's 
fulling mill, and the millpond lay wholly in the 
disputed territory. An examination of the head- 
lines in the vicinity of this starting place will show 
the insignificant variations in the course of an 
imaginary boundary once considered a matter of 
weighty importance. The origin of the name of 
the range is found in the dimensions of the home- 
steads. They were laid out two hundred and forty 
rods in length and of sufficient width to contain 
from forty to fifty acres of land. The westerly 
ends were considered more convenient and ser- 
viceable for the proprietors' residences and culti- 
vation, and the easterly ends remained for pas- 
turage and timber. The highway for the accom- 
modation of the range settlers passed along the 
western ends and was a principal line of communi- 
cation between Boston, Haverhill, and the settle- 
ments lying to the north of them. 

At the top of the map is shown a portion of 
Stephen Pierce's homestead. He was an ancestor 
of the governor. Adjoining was the homestead 
of Andrew Spalding, the lots forming an exact 
isosceles triangle filling the space between the 
English Range and the Three Quarter Mile 
19 , 



Range and the homestead of Samuel Graves. 
The settlers upon these lots of the Three Quarter 
Mile Range were disturbed by the people of 
Haverhill and probably with good reasons, as it 
appears quite evident the deeds, grants, and 
charters of the times were conflicting and the 
actual settlers found themselves involved in seem- 
ingly inextricable difficulties, and compelled to 
fight or surrender without knowing the true cause 
of their misfortunes. It appears upon the records 
of the town that Governor Wentworth received 
and occupied a farm in this range, the first slice 
taken off the Haverhill claim, and that he formally 
resigned this land eight years later. Perhaps a 
transcript of these records may be of interest as 
fully explaining the transaction. The Governor 
Wentworth place is clearly identified as the farm 
occupied afterwards by the Hunters and later by 
J. T. G. Dinsmore, and now in possession of 
Robert Rogers, the house next above that of 
Benjamin Adams : 

Nutfitld .September 16"' 1721. Laid out to the Honorable 
Lieutenant Governor Wentworth forty acres of land it being the 
second division of land in the above said town bounded as fol- 
loweth : beginning at a white oak tree at the south west corner, 
from thence running east two hundred and forty rods and bound- 
ing upon Alexander McMurphy's land until it come to a stake 
& heaj) of stones, from thence running north twenty eight rods 
unto a white oak tree marked, from thence running west two 
hundred and forty rods unto a white oak tree marked, from 
thence running south unto the bounds first mentioned, 
lames McKeen, James Gregg, David Cargill, John Croft'e, 
Samuel Moore, John Coghran, Joseph Simonds, James Alexan- 
der, James McNeal. Committee. Recorded this t8''' September 
1 72 1. Pi. John Goffe, 

Town Clerk. 






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MAP OK THE THREE QUARTER MILE RANGE. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



^iS 



February ii''' 1728-9. It is hereby to be known that the 
Honorable John Wentworth, Esq., Lieutenant Governor in and 
over His Majestys Province of New Hampshire, doth resign 
his right and title to the land mentioned in the above record, he 
having the equivalent of said land laid out on the westerly side 
of that land commonly called Leveretts Land, etc. 

J. Wentworth. 

I was present when the 
aforesaid Governor Went- 
worth resigned the above 
land, .\tlest. 

per lonN M.\cMuRPHV, 
7'(>7on Clerk. 

The land received 
bv Governor Went- 
worth instead of this 
farm in the Three 
C)uarter Mile Rana^e 
is identified by deeds 
in possession of J. 
Calvin Taylor as part 
of his far m a n d 
deeded by Governor 
Wentworth to his an- 
cestor (ixrcat-fjMand- 
father) M a 1 1 h e w 
Taylor, in i 732. 

Alexander Mac- 
Murphv, who was 
granted the lot south 
of Governor Went- 
worth, was the great- 
grandfather of Alex- 
ander MacMurphy 
now living i n 

„ , . MRS. BETSY (COBURN) ANNIS. 

Derry at the age of Aged ,. ye=rs. 

eighty-two years. sisters residmg i,. 

No certain infor- 
mation explains the fact that the records show a 
manifest error in the allotment of these farms. 
If the record of the Governor Wentworth land is 
correct, Alexander MacMurphy had possession of a 
homestead prior to Sept. 16, 1721. The records 
of deeds at Exeter, N. H., show that James Lig- 
gett sold his half of that homestead laid out to him 
and Alexander MacMurphy in 1722. The second 
division of Squire John MacMurphv, immediately 
south of Alexander MacMurphy, was laid out to 
him in March, 1722-3, and yet the description of 




the land shows Alexander MacMurphy to have 
occupied before that date. It is possible that 
Squire John MacMurphy, who was a man of great 
prudence, the first magistrate and town clerk of 
Londonderry, recognized the fact that no docu- 
ments issued prior to the date of the charter could 

be considered legal 
or valid. James Mac- 
Murphy, the son of 
Alexander of the 
Three Quarter Mile 
Range, sold his in- 
terest in the home- 
stead, after his 
father's death, to his 
brother Alexander, 
and bought land of 
David Morrison in 
Layers Range, where 
his descendants have 
lived ever since. The 
two MacMurphy lots 
are now owned by 
Benjamin Adams, 
and he also owns the 
lots of the Cargills, 
his house being just 
above the original 
inlay of Capt. David 
Cargill's fulling mill. 
The eastern half 
of David Cargill's 
lot was sold to Robert 
Gillmore at an early 
date, and March 25, 
1724, David Cargill 
deeded a lot of sev- 
enty acres to Robert Gillmore for building him a 
fulling mill; the lot was north of William Gill- 
more's farm, hence it is evident the Cargills had 
bought large tracts of land from the original 
proprietors at an early date in addition to many 
grants from the town. The Cargills sold both 
mills and real estate to John MacMurphy in 1732, 
and he disposed of them by his will of 1755. 
James McNeal sold his homestead to James Gill- 
more April 13, 1722, according to the traditions 
and papers of the Gillmore family. 



MRS. SARAH (COBURN) MORRISON. 

Aged 80 years. 
Londonderry, i8.)4. 



2l6 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



There were peculiar means of identifying the 
Hugh Montgomery lands : the farm in the Three 
Quarter Mile Range joined upon the farm in a 
short range southeast of Beaver pond also laid out 
to Hugh Montgomery. The farm of Hugh 
Montgomery is not shown in this map but its 
location was along the side of the homestead of 
William Thompson. The transcript of William 
Thompson's homestead is not found, but the fol- 
lowing record of Hugh Montgomery's lot will 
serve several important purposes : 



lots in said town. James Gregg, James McKeen, David Cargill, 
|ohn McNeal, Committee. Recorded this 14"' of March, 1723-4. 

Pr. John MacMurphv, 

Tinon Clerk. 

It is certain that this was the original order 
of this short range from the transcript of the lay- 
ing out of a highway. The highway began at a 
bridge built by Robert Boyes at the outlet of 
Beaver pond : 

Londonderry July 29''' 1723. Laid out by, the selectmen a 
road or street becrinninir at the bridge at the lower end of the 








ELM STREET, MANCHESTER. LOOKING SOUTH. 



Londonderry March 1720. Laid out to Hugh Montgomery 
a lot of land containing sixty acres be it more or less which lot 
is bounded on the west by a white oak tree marked, thence run- 
ning northeast by marked trees and bounding on Robert Morri- 
son's lot to a stake, bounding on John Archibald's lot and 
bounding on said Archibald's lot to Haverhill false line, so 
running north on said line to a stake, and from said stake 
bounding east on James McNeal's lot to a stake, thence running 
forty rods south to a stake, thence running west on Mr. 
McGregor's lot to the aforesaid Haverhill line and bounding 
south on said line to a white oak tree marked thence running 
southwest and bounding on William Thompson's lot to a stake, 
and bounding northwest to the bounds first mentioned : together 
with an interest in the common or undivided lands equal to other 



pond called Beaver pond and running up through the Ministerial 
and through John McNeaFs lot and by marked trees to the 
road now fenced through John MacMuqihy's lot and through 
Robert Boyce's lot and through Alexander McNeal's lot and 
through Robert Morrison's lot near his house, and running 
through Hugh Montgomery's lot and through William Thomi> 
son's lot and along through David Cargill's lot to the east of his 
old house where good ground answereth, and so running straight 
toward Mr. James McGregor's house, or barn, and so by the 
house to John Richey's house, the said road to be kept and 
continued clear four rods wide, and the timber of said road to 
be reserved foi the use of said road. Samuel Moore, James 
Nichols, Robert Boyes, Selectmen. Recorded this 30"' of 
September 1723. Pr. John MacMurphy, Town Clerk, 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



217 



The positions of some very old houses are 
indicated by the records, and it seems that David 
Cargill owned a house that was considered old the 
next year after the charter was granted to Lon- 
donderry. The deed of John Wheelwright, had it 
been sufficient to establish a clear title, would have 
included a portion of land that the people of 
Chester secured under a charter that antedated 
the charter of Londonderry, and several farms 
were laid out to the Haverhill line north of 
Stephen Pierce's homestead. The great farm of 
Governor Shute was still farther north, and a 
highway connected it with Haverhill and Boston, 
the centre of power and authority in the Massa- 
chusetts Bay colony. To exhibit the rapid changes 
in ownership of lands in this part of the town and 
allow the reader to see the impossibility of con- 
structing a map that will be absolutely free from 
the charge of anachronisms, another record of a 
highway is here given : 

Londonderry February the iS"' 1724-5. Laid out by the 
selectmen a straight road beginning at the common land lying 
to the northwest of Governor Shute's lots and running southerly 
across the said lots and through Samuel Rankin's lot to the line 
between Thomas Cochran and James Caldwell the two thirds 
upon James Caldwell's land and the other third upon Thomas 
Cochran's land, and across William Adams's lot straight to 
Patrick Douglass's house and to the lean-to, and turning more 
easterly across Robert Boyes's lot to Governor Wentworth's 
farm, and so on the said farm to the west end of Alexander 
MacMurphy's field and across his lot, and across John MacMur- 
phy's second division and David Cargill's to the brook at the 
Inlay of the P'ulling Mill, and as near a south line as ground 
will allow to John Archibald's house, and straight to William 
Gillmore's house, and as straight as good ground will allow to 
Daniel McDufifee's new house, and so to James Adams's house, 
and so as straight to the easterly corner of John Richey's home 
lot as ground will allow and then running partly on the second 
divisions and partly on John Richey's lot as good ground will 
alUow to the corner of John Barr's lot and so rimning partly on 
John Barr's lot and partly on the second divisions as good 
ground will allow to the line between William Humphrey and 
John Barr's lot, running on said Barr's land as far as the select- 
men have viewed, and then running on said Humphrey's land to 
the road leading to Haverhill, the said road to be two rods wide. 
This by order of James Alexander, William Coghran, John 
Blair, Robert Boyes. Selectmen. Recorded this 27"' of Feb- 
ruary r 7 24-5. Pr. John MacMurphv, 

Totoii Clerk. 

The lot laid out to the Rev. James McGregor 
is now owned by Alexander McMurphy and occu- 



pied by Charles A. Burnham. The homestead 
and second division of one hundred acres laid out 
in one lot to Daniel McDuffee remained many 
years under his management and ownership, and 
the name still lives and is perpetuated in the cus- 
tom of calling some farms by the names of former 
owners. The McDuffee farm is now owned 
and occupied by Albert A. Pressey. Daniel 
McDuffee and Ruth, his wife, lived to a good old 
age, and their bodies lie in the old burying ground 
by the First church. A large horizontal slab 
resting upon four pillars tells the story. From 
the town records one reads : " Hugh McDuffee, 
son of Daniel McDuffee and Ruth his wife, was 
born March 25, 1721," and "John McDuffee, son 
of Daniel McDuffee and Ruth his wife, was born 
September 14th 1723." And thus by sure steps 
the e)ld jilaces are restored and peopled with the 
shades of the departed. 



T-^OWN ACCOUNTS were rigidly audited in 
^ the early days of Nutfield. Scrupulously 
honest as those old Scotch-Irish settlers were, they 
thought it well that all should know where every 
penny went. There had evidently been some 
fault found with the expenditures in 1729, for at 
the annual town meeting in the following year, 
" Alexander Nichols, James Aiken and John Mor- 
rison were chosen to serve as a committee to the 
end that the town may be made sensible of the 
disbursements of their money." 



THE FIRST FRAME HOUSE was built in 
Nutfield (in the present town of Derry) in 
1728, for Rev. James McGregor. There were two 
stories in front and one in the rear, where the 
kitchen was situated, extending nearly across the 
house, with ample " dressers," and a sink at one 
end and a bedroom at the other. Two large 
rooms were in front, and upstairs were four bed- 
rooms. As late as 1863 this house was occupied 
as a dwelling by its owner, Joseph Morrison. In 
the fall of that year, having retained nearly its 
original form to the last through the vicissitudes 
of 135 years, it was torn down. (See page 71.) 



2l8 



WILLErs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



CHARLES WELLS, M. D., was born in 
Westminster, Vt., June 22, 18 17. His 
grandfather, Captain Hezekiah Wells, a native of 
Windsor, Conn., served with distinction in the 
Revolutionary war and died in 181 7. His more 
remote ancestors were Lamson Wells, born in 
1706; Joshua Wells, born in 1672, and Joshua, Sr., 
born in 1647, all natives of Windsor. Dr. Wells 
thus traced his lineage through the best of New 
England ancestry, back to the sturdy Pilgrims. 
Dr. Wells had but one brother, Dr. Horace Wells 
of Hartford, Conn., celebrated as the discoverer 
of anaesthetics. He died in New York Jan. 24, 
1848, at the age of thirty-three, while engaged in 
the introduction of his discovery into general use 
in surgery, as well as in dentistry, in which he 
made its first application. A beautiful statue has 
been erected to his memory in the public park of 
Hartford. Dr. Charles Wells was educated in the 
public schools of Bellows Falls, Vt., where the family 
resided and where his father died in 1829. After 
academic courses at Walpole, N. H., and Amherst, 
Mass., he began the study of medicine in 1837 with 
Dr. Josiah Graves of Nashua, and was graduatctl 
from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 
1840, at the age of twenty-one. He began his 
professional career at Chili, N. \'., but the field 
of practice proving unsatisfactory, he removed in 
1842 to Manchester, where he continued to reside 
until his death. Never an aggressive practitioner, 
but always content with the share of patronage 
that fell to his lot, he enjoyed in a high degree the 
confidence and respect of his professional brethren. 
Such, however, was his success, and such his rare 
financial skill and judgment, that while still in the 
prime of manhood he was relieved of the burden 
of further professional labor, and was enabled to 
withdraw from active practice and devote the remain- 
ing years of his life to the management of his large 
estate and to those domestic and social enjoy- 
ments which were ever the source of his greatest 
happiness. For more than forty years he was an 
enthusiastic member of Hillsborough Lodge of 
Odd Fellows, being the last survivor of the little 
band who introduced the order in New Hamp- 
shire. He was the recipient of all the honors the 
order could bestow, and was ever a generous con- 
tributor to its benevolent work. Never seeking 



political honors, although they were frequently 
offered to him, his only public service was as a mem- 
ber of the common council in 1847-48, and as an 
alderman in 1848-49. He assisted in making the 
first city report, and the plan suggested and 
matured by him has been in use ever since. He 
was for many years vestryman and treasurer 
of Grace Episcopal church. The ostentatious 
show of wealth was very distasteful to Dr. Wells. 
Solid worth and merit alone weighed with him, 
and no man was ever quicker to recognize the true 
and the genuine and to denounce shams and hum- 
bugs. As citizen, neighbor, and friend, he filled 
the measure of every expectation, and no resident 
of Manchester ever departed this life more gen- 
erally esteemed or more deeply lamented. Of fine 
phvsique and of prepossessing appearance, he was 
gentle, courtly, dignified, and affable in his de- 
meanor. Dec. 21, 1847, he was married to Miss 
Mary M. Smith, who survives him. Their union, 
though not blessed with children, proved most 
felicitous. His death, of which there had been no 
premonitions, occurred very suddenly of heart 
disease at- his home in Manchester, Dec. 28, 1884. 



ONE OF THE QUAINT ENTRIES in the 
parish records of the First church, Nutfield, 
reads as follows, under date of Dec. 6, i 736 : " Six 
pounds to Mrs. Clark, remainder of salary due the 
Rev. Matthew Clark, deceased, which clears the 
town of his debts from the creation of the world 
to this day." The parish evidently did not intend 
to recognize any old unpaid claims which might 
possibly be presented. 



MRS. JANE M. WALLACE, who died in 
Merrimack Nov. 28, 1866, at the age of 
eighty-one years, was the eldest daughter of Rev. 
Dr. William Morrison, who for thirty-five years 
was the minister of the West Parish, Londonderry. 
His death occurred in 18 18. His epitaph says of 
him that he possessed " all the virtues which adorn 
the man and the Christian," and that " as a divine, 
a preacher and a pastor he held acknowledged 
eminence." His sermons were said to be " awfully 
alarming to the wicked." 




^c^. 



EARLY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



THE Nutfield colony rapidly pushed forward 
in clearing away the forests around the spots 
chosen for building log cabins for residences and 
shelters for cattle. Private roads were temporarily 
laid out and recorded for the communications of 
the families. With the demarcation of homestead 
allotments and the definite arrangement and loca- 
tion of proprietors, concerted action in reference 
to privileges obtained, and after the early resolu- 
tion to erect a meeting-house in the centre of 
population had matured and passed into established 
materialization in the First church, so called at 
this day, the inhabitants next turned their atten- 
tion to the duty of providing a regular means of 
education for their large households of numerous 
children. In the unsettled and provisional state 
of the colony of Nutfield, without guaranty for 
the possession of the lands on which they had 
settled, the education of children had been very 
meagre and confined to the ability of the individual 
heads of families to engage the services of a tutor 
or governess. But in the struggles of three years 
from the time of settlement in 1719, fortune 
favored the colony in the obtaining of a good 
and valid charter from Great Britain, and in 
assured possession the inhabitants, having been 
called together, and duly organized in a town 
meeting Jan. 20, 1723, voted for the erection of a 
schoolhouse in the town; the building to be con- 
structed of logs, the length to be sixteen feet, and 
the breadth twelve feet, and the side walls to be 
seven feet in height. In the town there had been 
several persons of moderate scholastic attainments 
who had gathered children at their houses for 
instruction and received remuneration by subscrip- 
tion, but the poorer families not being able to pay 
anything, it was deemed expedient to make a 
general provision for the education of all classes. 
At a general town meeting held at Londonderry 
March 6, 1726, the town voted to maintain 
but one school at the public charge for the en- 
suing year. The provincial statutes required that 
ever}^ fifty householders must be provided with a 
schoolmaster to instruct the youth in reading and 
writing, and every community of a hundred house- 
holds must be furnished with a grammar school. 



In that year the town was moved to favor the 
cause of education by a resolution to build a 
schoolhouse eighteen feet long, clear of the space 
allowed lor the chimneys at one end, where two 
fireplaces were to be made as large as the house 
would allow. The wages of a schoolmaster at this 
time were thirty-six pounds for the year, a salary 
perhaps not out of proportion with wages in other 
occupations. March 25, 1732, the town came to 
the aid of education in a vote to pay the wages of 
two schools at the public charge. 

In searching for the location of these schools 
maintained at the public expense, it is instructive 
to note that both were in the same neighborhood, 
nt)t far from the First church. There were private 
schools in other parts of the town, under the 
instruction of young men who afterward became 
famous. The West Parish was struggling into 
existence in an unrecognized capacity, temporarily 
building both churches and schools as the centre 
of population moved farther away. The Aikcns 
Range, the Eaycrs Range, and the High Range 
became powerful influences in establishing other 
rallying points and eventually led to the districting 
of the town and the apportionment of a general 
school tax to the maintenance of a number of 
schools. 

Rev. James MacGregor was an experienced 
school teacher, and before the wages of his 
parochial services were adequate to the support of 
his family he was accustomed to supplement these 
with receipts obtained from teaching. His son, 
Rev. David MacGregor, was also a noted teacher 
and pastor in this town. In both private and 
public capacity these early teachers deserve such 
memorialization in history as shall preserve their 
names in honor. Robert Morrison, Eleanor 
Aiken, John Barnett, William Harvey, and Archi- 
bald Wier had served as teachers as early as 1725. 
Only ten years later the list of teachers whose 
names have been preserved was increased by the 
following : John Wilson, William Wallace, Ezekiel 
Steele, Thomas Boyes, Francis Bryan, Morton 
Goodall, Matthew Campbell, Thomas Bacon, Wil- 
liam McNeil, and John Eayres were teachers in 
this town in the year 1736. In the next year were 
21 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



added the names of Daniel Todd and Mary McNeil. 
For more than half a century the town of 
Londonderry had no established school of hio-her 
grade than the common or grammar school, but 
during this time the higher education was not 
neglected. There were many young men who had 
ambition and talent, and obtained by private 
instruction- such knowledge of Greek and Latin 
as enabled them to enter colleges and prosecuting 
their curriculum to graduate with honors. As the 
number of college graduates increased in town, 



towns. Londonderry must have higher grades. 
The town was not ready to act as a unit, and 
influential men moved among the people to obtain 
subscriptions for maintaining a high school. The 
common by the First church was the location of 
the first high school building. It was supposed 
that other adjoining towns would send pupils to 
assist in defraying a part of the expenses of main- 
taining a classical high school under a competent 
college graduate. Professor L. S. Moor was one 
of the first teachers. He afterward became an 




MCGREGOR BRIDGE, MANCHESTER. 



the sentiment grew that a fitting school was a 
necessity. Yearly demands for education at home 
were made until in the latter part of the century, 
very soon after the close of the Revolutionary 
war, there was an immense impulse given to every 
industry, credit revived, and private fitting schools, 
or schools of a grade to make liuth young men 
and young women proficient in many specialties 
hitherto not taught in the town schools, were 
advocated. The young women began to wish for 
better advantages and went to academies in other 



instructor at Dartmouth and later assumed the 
presidency of Williams and Amherst colleges. 
Several teachers succeeded for short periods, until 
Professor Samuel Burnham, a man of collegiate 
attainments and some executive ability, took the 
management of the school and for nearly a quarter 
of a century maintained financiallv and education- 
ally a very successful classical institution. The 
year 1814 saw the establishment of Pinkerton 
Academy, a history of which is given elsewhere in 
the present work. 



HON. JACOB FRANKLIN JAMES. 



HON. JACOB F. JAMES was born in Deer- followed with enthusiasm. Mr. James took an 

field July 9, 181 7, son of Moses and Martha active part in the early political history of the city. 

(Voung) James, being one of a family of eight In 1845 the Whig party elected him as a repre- 

children. When he was very young his family sentative to the legislature, and re-elected him the 

removed to Candia, where his boyhood was spent following year. In the spring of 1847 he was 

in farming and in improving such necessary educa- chosen mayor, serving continuously until 1849, and 



tional advantages as 
the district school 
a fi" o r d e d . When 
fourteen years of age 
he went to Lowell, 
Mass., and became 
an operative in one 
of the carding-rooms 
of the Lowell Manu- 
facturing Company. 
After four years of 
this employment, 
aided by the savings 
he had accumulated, 
he entered the Old 
Baptist Seminary at 
New Ha m p t o n , 
where he studied for 
two years. In April, 
1837, he returned to 
Lowell and was made 
overseer of the card- 
room in which he 
had formerly worked, 
holding the position 
for three years, when 
he resigned to enter 
the employ of the 
Massachusetts Cor- 
poration of Lowell 

as superintendent of carding. In February, 1842, borough county, being elected in 1864 and re- 
he accepted an invitation to come to Manchester elected in 1867. He was one of the trustees of 
and take charge of two carding-rooms in No. 1 the Amoskeag Savings bank, and a member of 
mill, Stark Corporation, and in less than two years the city committee having the public cemeteries 
his abilities were such that he was made superin- in charge from 1867 until his death, and gave 
tendent of the whole system of carding in that cor- much attention to their care. In 1840 Mr. James 
poration, and retained this position until he fol- married Harriet, daughter of Charles Priest of 
lowed the natural bent of his mind by devoting Lancaster, Mass., who is still living, but none of 
himself to making surveys and conveyances, this the three children now survive. He became a 
being a part of his studies at school which he had member of Hillsborough Lodge, I. O. O. F., on 




HON. JACOB F. JAMES. 



was again elected in 
i856,servingto 1858. 
In 1877, on the res- 
ignation of Mayor 
Ira Cross, he was 
elected by the city 
councils to fill the 
vacancy, but declined 
the proffered honor. 
He was chief en- 
gineer of Manches- 
ter fire department 
in 1 85 1 and 1855, 
and as long as his life 
lasted his interest in 
the firemen never 
ceased. In 1862 he 
served as second 
member of the com- 
mittee having charge 
of the construction 
of the high school 
building, and devoted 
a great deal of time 
to the superintend- 
ence of the work. 
For six years he was 
a member of the 
board of county com- 
missioners for Hills- 



■JQ 



223 



224 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



January 8, 1844, and passed the chairs in 1847. 
In 1844 he was initiated in Wonolanset encamp- 
ment and passed the usual chairs in 1856. He 
was made a member of the Grand Lodge of Odd 
Fellows in 1859. His death occurred April 15, 
1892. Mr. James was an ideal type of an honest 
man and enjoyed in a remarkable degree the 
confidence of the people. 



PLEASANT VIEW CEMETERY.— This 
cemetery, situated upon the west side of 
the Mammoth road in North Londonderry, has 
been in use but a few years. There repose, 
however, the remains of some departed citizens of 
earlier years that have been removed from older 
yards, notably those that have been taken from the 
Baptist Cemetery. The following is an alphabeti- 
cal arrangement of the inscriptions to be found in 
Pleasant View Cemetery at the present time : 

Adams, George (son of Nathan and Elizabeth J. Adams) 
died Aug 31, 1874, aged 22 yrs 8 mos ; Gertrude (dau of Nathan 
and Elizabeth J. Adams) died Nov 19, 1883, aged 13 yrs 10 mos : 
Rowena (dau of Erank and Alma E. Adams) died Aug 15, i88i, 
aged 4 mos 13 dys. 

Austin, Joshua born Oct 17, 1800, died May 27, 1861. 

Barker, Samuel C. born Oct 15, t8i2, died Aug 16, 1853 ; 
Hannah L). (wife) born March 27, 1818. 

Blodgett, Isaac died Jan 11, 1858, aged 50 yrs 7 mos 
16 dys ; Celestia A. (dau of Isaac and Bethiah Blodgett) died 
Oct 14, 1S63, aged 13 yrs 11 mos; Isaac Joshua (son of same) 
died April 6, 1854, aged 2 dys. 

BoYCE, Ladd born Sept 21, 1835, died Aug 2, 1883. 

BoYDEN, Joseph, Co E 29 Reg Mass Vols, died July 7, 
1893, aged 66 yrs. 

Barker, Affie and Effie (twin daughters of David C. and 
Eliza J. Barker) died Sept 21, i860, aged 3 mos. 

Chase, Elijah G. born March 22, 1819, died April 19, 
1893 ; Phebe M. (wife) born July 20, 1822 ; Nathan P. born 
June 13, 181 2, died Oct 5, 1893 ; Mary P. Whidden (wife) born 
Sept I, 1820; Trueworthy U. born Sept 11. 1828, died Eeb 24, 
1872 ; Nancy M. Pettingill (wife) born July 6, 1832, died Sept 6, 
1892 : Erank E. born Nov. 21, 1S62, died Feb 21, 1884 : John H. 
born May 29, 1864, died Aug 29, 1864: child, Dec 30, 1866; 
child, Jan 3, 1868 ; Hannah died March 30, 1S90, aged 56 yrs 
: I mos. 

Corning, Mary (dau of William and Hannah Corning) 
died Jan 23, 1879, aged 17 yrs 5 mos ; Nathaniel born July 17, 
1S04, died .\Lig 14, 1869 ; Mary McMurphy (wife) born April 4, 
1808, died April i, 1893; George W. (son of Nathaniel and 
Mary M. Corning) born Aug 21, 1843, died Sept 5, 1844; 
Nathaniel, jr, born I'"eb 9, 1839, died June 9, 1878 ; Alexander M. 



(son of same) bom April 25, 1833, died Dec 12, 1893; Anna J. 
(dau of Alexander M. and Roxana Corning) : Almira N. (dau of 
same). 

Farrell, Potter died Oct 11, 1890, aged 60 yTs 8 mos. 

Ei.iNG, John W., stone; Mary A. (wife) born Feb 16, 1837, 
died June lo. 1890: infant (son) born March 17, 1869, died 
April 5, 1869. 

Frost, Edgar, (no date). 

Furber. J. S.. 1819-1891; Elbridge W., 1863- 1S81; 
John W., 1846-1885. 

Greeley, George W. died Aug 3, 1888, aged 67 yrs to 
mos ; S. Arvilla died Jan 3, 1882, aged 31 yrs 8 mos. 

GuTTERSON, Eli S. born July 19, 1818, died May 19, 1863. 

Hall, Robert and Henry R., monument ; Nancy E. (wife 
of Robert Hall) born March 30, 1819, died Feb 16, 1868; 
YXiz. M. (wife of Henry R. Hall) born Jan 23, 1856, died July 18, 

1890 ; Elsie L. (dau of Henry R. and Ella M. Hall) born Feb 
18, 1887, died June 7, 1889. On same monument. 

Hale, Etta M. (wife of Samuel C. Hale) born Dec 6, 1851, 
died Aug 22, 1S91. 

Kimball, Isaac born April 10, 1821, died March 10, 1S90; 
Rebecca J. (wife) born Dec 24, 1832, died March 3, 1892. 

McGregor, George F. born Jan 9, 1841, died Jan 20, 

1891 ; Rhoda A. (wife) born Aug i6, 1842 ; Augusta M. (wife of 
Wm R. McGregor), i860 -1889: Gracie, 1887 -1894. 

Nesmith, Jonathan Y. and Lucian H., stone ; Oreal (son 
of J. Y. and A. A. Nesmith), 1859- 1863; Cyrus, 1801-1881; 
Lydiah (wife), 1807 - 1S76 ; Luzetah J. (dau of Cyrus and Lydiah), 
1841-1842; Capt Thomas, 1791-1861 ; Nancy B. (wife), 1795- 
iSSo. 

NoRCROSS, Joshua L. died Sept i, 1S62, aged 34 yrs 4mos; 
George N. died July i, 1861, aged 3 )ts 11 mos. 

NovES. Freddie (son of J. M. and h. P. Noyes) died Sept 
29, 1S76, aged 2 yrs 11 mos 20 dys; Eva F. (dau of the same) 
died Jan 4, :889, aged 9 mos 7 dys; Mary (wife of Joseph T. 
Noyes) died March, 1S85, aged 47 yrs 3 mos 20 dvs ; Sylvester 
C. (son of Benning and Mary B.) died May 21, 1856, aged 
12 yrs 7 mos : Ella L. (dau of same) died Nov. 11, 1869, aged 
1 2 yrs 5 mos. 

Page, Leonard died June 15, 1S86, aged 67 yrs 12 dys. 

Smith, Nathan S., stone ; Lizzie A. Choate (wife) died Jan 
15. 1890, aged 50 yrs 4 mos 2 dys; Ehsha died May 26, 1S87, 
aged 86 yrs 4 mos 9 dys ; Rachel -Sanborn 'wife) died March 28, 
1893, aged S3 yrs 23 dys. 

Whidden, John P. (son of J. W. and E. R, Whidden) died 
March 14, 18S4, aged 5 dys ; Ellen Maria (dau of John P. and 
Alice) died Dec 3, 1857, aged 5 dys. 

Whitcomb, Harriet C. (wife of H. B. Corliss) born Dec 17, 
1826, died Feb 11, 1892. 

White, Reuben died March 31, 1858. aged 63 yrs; Rachel 
Corning (wife) died March 25, 1885, aged 83 yrs 5 mos ; Ruel B. 
(son) died Sept 23, 1883, aged 41 yrs i mo 22 dys ; Samuel G. 
(son) died Dec i, 1892, aged 67 yrs: Nelson (son) died May 24, 
1851, aged 17 yrs 5 mos ; Elisa A. (dau) died Nov 11, 1838, 
aged I yr 5 mos. 

Willev, Jacob N. born Fell, 1804, tlied Jan 29. 1867; 
Rachel T. (wife) born May 18, 1822, died Aug 31, 1886, 



SAMUEL CALDWELL FORSAITH. 



SAMUEL C. FORSAITH was born in Goffs- tants and was obliged to enlarge his workshop. 

town, Sept. 29, 1827, the son of Robert and At this time he purchased a patent machine for 

Elizabeth (Caldwell) Forsaith. His father being a folding newspapers, which was so defective that it 

farmer, he spent his early life upon a farm, was of little practical value. Here was an oppor- 

rcceiving his education in the common schools of tunitv for the display of his rare genius as a 

his native town. When a mere boy he manifested mechanic, and he at once applied himself to the 

a remarkable aptitude for mechanical work, and at perfecting of this machine with such success that 

the age of eleven years had constructed and set up he eventually received large orders to supply news- 
paper establishments 



a miniature sawmill, 
complete in all its parts, 
and in running order. 
At the age of seven- 
teen he came to Man- 
chester and entered the 
Amoskeag m a c h i n e 
shop as an apprentice. 
There he remained 
until thrown out of 
employment by a de- 
structive fire, which led 
him to seek a situation 
in the Stark mills 
machine shop, where 
he continued until Sept. 
I, 1850. He then 
removed to Milford, 
where for eight years 
he had charge of the 
repair shop connected 
with the mills in that 
town. He left Milford 
to assume charge of 
the Saco Water Power 
machine shop at Bid- 
deford. Me., holding 




SAMUEL C. FORSAITH. 



throughout the country 
with his i m pr o v e d 
folder. While manu- 
facturing these folders 
he was also building 
sawmills, mill gearings, 
water-wheels, etc., and 
the number of his em- 
ployees increased from 
four to twelve. In 1863 
he leased the entire 
scale works plant, and in 
1867 built a new shop 
which proved to be the 
nucleus of the set of 
buildings now owned 
by the company which 
bears his name. In 
1872, William E. Drew, 
a former employee in 
the shop, was taken 
into partnership, and 
the business continued 
to grow until 1884, 
when the ownership 
was mersred into a 



this position for two years. In i860 he returned stock company with a capitalization of $275,000. 

to Manchester and went into business on his own In the winter of 1884-85, while Mr. Forsaith was 

account, beginning in a room which he rented in on a trip to the Bermuda Islands and the 

the shop of the Manchester scale works, his southern states, he was stricken with apoplexy and 

announcement to the public being that he was died at Philadelphia, March 23, 1885. 
prepared to do all kinds of job work, and thus the Mr. Forsaith will long be remembered as a 

present and extensive plant operated by the pioneer in the machine business in Manchester, 

S. C. Forsaith Machine Company had its early his genius as a machinist, indomitable perseverance, 

beginnmg. and great energy overcoming the most unfavor- 

Mr. Forsaith's success was such that at the able conditions. He was one of the most com- 

end of the first year he was employing four assis- panionable of men, was prominent in Masonry and 

225 



226 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Odd Fellowship, and was an officer in the Amos- 
keag Veterans. In politics he was a Democrat, 
and on several occasions received the enthusiastic 
support of his party as a candidate for the New 
Hampshire state senate. Feb. 20, 1848, he mar- 
ried Nancy W. Pierce, who died April 20, 1871. 
These children were born to them : Frank P., 
George B., and William, the first named now de- 
ceased. Dec. 23, 1875, he married Clara J., daugh- 
ter of Col. J. C. Smith of Salisbury, her mother 
l)eing Clara Johnson. The issue of their marriage 
was three children: Samuel C, Jr., born Dec. 16, 
1876; Clarence S., born Feb. 19, 1879; and Dar- 
win J., born Oct. 19, 1880. 



ON HOLLAND'S MAP of New Hampshire, 
published in London in i 784, the only house 
indicated in the old town of Londonderry is 
Samuel Thompson's. He was a Revolutionary 
soldier who enlisted in the first company that went 
from Nutfield, immcdiatelv after the battle of 



Lexington. The Thompson homestead was in 
the possession of Charles Hurd in 1865. In the 
town of Merrimack the only residence noted on 
the map is that of Edward Goldstone Lutwyche, 
an English gentleman of education and fortune 
who left the country on the breaking out of the 
Revolution. Rev. Edward Lutwyche Parker, for 
forty years pastor of the First church in Derry, 
was named for him. 



RAISING THE FIRST CHURCH.— It must 
have been a royal time which the old 
worthies had at the raising of the First church in 
Nutfield in 1769, when a new meeting-house was 
built, for the records state that the parish voted 
"that the Committy buy four hundred weaight of 
Cheas, and two thousand Bisket, and three Barl of 
Rum & five Barl of Syder for the meeting hous 
raising." Curiously enough, the erection of the 
house of worship was immediately followed by a 
season of creat reliaious awakcninaf. 




LOWELL STREET, MANCHESTER. 1885. 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



227 



REV. O. G. TINGLOF, pastor of the Swedish missionary work among the Swedes in that state, 
Evangelical Mission church, Manchester, and began the work in August of that year. In 
was born in Sweden in 1856. His parents were the spring of 1892 he was called to Manchester by 
in humble circumstances, and although they were the Swedish Evangelical Mission church. This 

church was organized Dec. 9, 1889, with twenty- 
five members, its church polity and creed being 
similar to that of the Congregational body in the 
United States. From the start it was partly sup- 
ported by the Congregational Home Missionary 
Society of New Hampshire, but in 1892 it became 
self-supporting, and its work has been prospering 
and its numbers increasing until now the member- 
ship is 115. The First Congregational church 
opened its chapel for the first services of the little 
congregation, but as it was necessary to have a 
place of worship where several meetings could be 
conducted during the week, a room was hired for 
that purpose in the City Mission chapel, and 
the meetings are still held there. Since 1893 the 
church has been working hard to erect a house of 
worship of its own, and for that purpose a lot of 
land on Orange street was purchased in the spring 
of 1893. In the early part of 1895 this land was 
sold, and another lot, situated on the northwest 
corner of Pine and Orange streets, was bought for 



REV. O. G. TINGLOF. 




not professing Christians they taught their son to 
respect the established religion of the country. 
After becoming acquainted with the religious 
movement outside the state church of Sweden, Mr. 
Tinglof was converted to active Christianity in 1874. 
He ascribes his further enlightenment in religious 
matters to a book entitled, " The Lord is Right," 
published the following year, and written by Rev. 
P. Waldenstrom, D. D., a member of parliament. 
Some years after his conversion, Mr. Tinglof began 
to take part in Christian work. Coming to 
America in 1882, he settled in Boston, where he 
worked in a machine shop, and preached the 
gospel to his compatriots on Sundays. In 1888 
he returned to Sweden and took a two years' 
course at Christinehamn in a college supported by 
the Swedish Evangelical Covenant. In the spring 
of i8go, while still in college, he accepted a call 
from the American Congregational Home Mis- 




I'ROPOSED SWEDISH MISSION CHURCH. 

$4,100. The society intends to build a church 
there the present year, and the people of Manches- 
ter are generously aiding with their contributions. 
The first pastor of the soci.ety was Rev. P. E. 



Dillner, who came to Manchester in 1889 and 
sionary Society in Massachusetts to engage in organized the church. 



HON. ALFRED G. FAIRBANKS. 



LJON. ALFRED G. FAIRBANKS was born Mr. Fairbanks has always taken a lively interest in 
A 1 in Francestown, Jan. i6, 1822, and is the son the politics of the city and state, being first a 
of Deacon Bucknam and Cynthia (Downs) Fair- Whig and later an ardent Republican, and filled 
banks. He was educated in the common schools various official positions with honor to himself and 
and academy of his native town. His earliest advantage to the community. In 1881-82 he 
work was performed on his father's farm, where he represented ward 4 in the state legislature, and 
laid the foundation 
of a strong and vig- 
orous manhood. He 
came to Manchester 
in 1843, and began 
his independent 
career as a black- 
smith in the employ 
of the Amoskeag 
Corporation. He had 
learned the trade in 
his native town. In 
1857 he went into 
trade for himself, and 
after several years of 
success purchased a 
farm in what was 
then called 'Squog, 
on the Mast road 
toward Goffstown, 
and lived there about 
seven years, engaging 
in various mercantile 
pursuits meanwhile. 
Hillsborough county 
built a new jail at 
Manchester in 1862- 
63 and Mr. Fairbanks 
was appointed 
deputy sheriff and 
jailer in 1864. This position he held nearly 



was one of the com- 
missioners of Hills- 
borough county for 
a period of six years 
beginning in 1883, 
being chairman of 
the board two of 
those years. He was 
a member of the state 
senate in 1892-93 
from the seventeenth 
district, serving 
on the commit- 
tees on finance, state 
prison, insane asylum, 
and soldiers' home. 
It has been grace- 
fully written of him 
in this connection : 

Senator Fairbanks, 
though one of the oldest 
members of the senate, is 
one of the most vigorous. 
His long experience in 
public affairs enables him 
to secure a prominent 
position in the proceed- 
ings of the senate. As a 
conscientious and faithful 
legislator, Senator Fair- 
banks stands pre-eminent. 
His voice is seldom heard in debate, but is never heard without 
respect and influence. Constant in his attentions upon his 
public duties, he wins the esteem of his constituents, and faithful 
in his guardianship of their interests, he adds to his reputation 
for integrity. In the city of Manchester, where Senator Fair- 
banks has resided for nearly fifty years, he is justly regarded as 
ship with F. L. Wallace, mentioned elsewhere. one of her leading citizens in all good works. His charity is 
In everv position Mr. Fairbanks has made warm unostentatious, yet liberal : his friendship not boastful, but cordial. 

{,-;a,^A,- ^.^A .,1 „ „ u ij ii 1 • 1 i^ ,. 1 Thrown constantly into association with all classes of society 

liiends and always held the highest respect and , ,,.•',. , . ^ ^ . , , , -^ 

^ , . , ,, by reason 01 his busmess duties, Senator Fairbanks has 

esteem of his fellow-townsmen, among whom he developed the most sterling qualities of manhood, sympathy, 

has been a prominent factor for advancement, and tact. 

228 




HON. ALFRED G. FAIRBANKS. 



ten 



years, until New Hampshire chose a Democratic 
governor and other political affiliations were 
wanted. General business engaged his attention 
for several years, and finally he formed the partner- 



WILLBrS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



229 



Mr. Fairbanks was married to Harriet A. 
Dodge of Francestown in 1844, and to them three 
children have been born : Henry B., a prominent 
business man in Manchester; Ellen Cynthia, who 
lives at home; and Anna Frances, some years ago 
deceased. Mrs. Fairbanks died in August, 1891, 
at the family home on Wilson hill, where Mr. 
Fairbanks was one of the pioneer settlers twenty- 
one years ago. He is a member of the Amoskeag 
\'eterans and was quartermaster fifteen years. He 
is also a member of the Franklin-Street Congrega- 
tional church, joining soon after its organization 
in 1844. 



A DAMS FEMALE ACADEMY.— Although 
^ this institution no longer exists, having been 
merged into the public school system of Derry in 
1887, during its life of nearlv two thirds of a cen- 
tury it was one of the chief educational centres of 
New England. Being the first incorporated 
female academv in the state, and among the first 
in the country in which a regular course of studies 
was prescribed, the school mav justly be called a 
pioneer in the cause of woman's education in 
America. There had been a female department 
in Pinkerton Academy, but the trustees deemed it 
expedient to separate the boys from the girls, and 
a female seminary was opened in the buiUling 
originally erected for an academy. Jacob Adams, 
who died in 1823, bequeathed about four thousand 
dollars of his propertv to endow a female academy, 
" to be located within one hundred rods of the 
East Parish meeting-house, in Lt)ndonderry." 
The school was accordingly established, and in 
April, 1824, went into operation under the charge 
of Miss Z. P. Grant, who had been a pupil, and 
was then an assistant, in the seminarv of Rev. 
Joseph Emerson. She was aided by Miss Mary 
Lyon, who subsequently became distinguished as a 
teacher at Mt. Holyoke Seminary in carrying 
out the plan of female education originally adopted 
at Adams. Under the superintendence and 
instruction of Miss Grant and Miss Lvon, the 
academv soon attained a high reputation and 
attracted pupils from all parts of New England, 
the attendance reaching one luindred. In 1827 

circumstances led the two teachers to sever their 
connection with the sciiool and open an academv 



for young ladies at Ipswich, Mass. They were 
succeeded by Charles C. P. Gale of E.xeter, a 
graduate of Yale, who remained principal for ten 
years. One of Mr. Gale's pupils has paid this 
tribute to his character: "He was a magnetic 
man, full of candor, hope, and all high ideals. He 
attracted everybody towards him, made lasting 
and loving friendships, and rarely failed to create 
among his pupils strong personal loyalty and affec- 
tion. Our lessons in Paley's Theology and Evi- 
dences were often only texts for eloquent and 
suggestive lectures, quickening and kindling our 
thoughts, so that when we left his presence wc 
were glowing with a new life." On Mr. Gale's 
resignation, John Kelly of Atkinson was appointed 
principal, and remained in charge three years, 
being succeeded by Miss Laura W. Dwight, who 
also remained three years. Edward L. Parker, the 
next principal, resigned in 1848, after a four years' 
service, and during the next twelve years the 
academy had nine different principals, as follows : 
Rev. Eli T. Rowe, Henry S. Parker, Miss Abby 
T. Wells, Nathaniel E. Gage, Miss E. C. Rubies, 
Nathaniel J. Marshall, Miss Jennie M. Bartlett, 
Miss Mary A. Hoyt, and Benjamin F. Warner.^ 
In i860 the trustees were fortunate in securinsf 
the services of Miss Emma L. Taylor of Derr)', 
youngest sister of Dr. Samuel N. Taylor of Phillips 
Andover Academy. Under her management the 
school prospered greatly, and the course of study 
was much extended. She remained in charge 
many years, her assistants at different times being 
Miss Mary F. Rowly, Miss Mary E. Burn ham. 
Miss Elizabeth Train, and Mrs. William Crawford. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the academy was 
celebrated July i, 1873, the occasion bringing to 
Derry the alumna; from man)^ states of the Union. 
A very interesting feature of the event was the 
presence of Mrs. Bannister of Newburyport, the 
first teacher of the school. She was in her eighty- 
second year, and had not visited the school since 
leaving Derry, forty-seven vears previously. There 
were addresses by Rev. Mr. Parker, Rev. Dr. 
Deriner, Mr. Edward L. Parker, and at the colla- 
tion which followed in the town hall speeches 
were made bv Rev. Dr. Wellman, Hon. E. H. 
Derl)\-, Dr. Hooker of Boston, and several others. 

in the list of graduates or former pupils of 



230 



WTL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



the school are the names of the first wife of Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, the two sisters of N. P. Willis, 
the poet, one of whom became widely known as 
" Fanny Fern," the Penhallows and Salters of 
Portsmouth, the Cillevs of Nottinorham, the 
Derbys of Boston, the Bells, Aikens, Frenches, 
and Richardsons of Chester, the Tuckers, Thorns, 
Taylors, Greggs, MacGregors, Farrars, Dows, 
Parkers, Prentices, Pattens, Adamses, Choates, 
and Eastmans of Derry and Londonderry. Miss 
Lucinda J. Gregg, a graduate of the school, read 
the poem on the occasion of the celebration of the 
fiftieth anniversary. 

With such a long and honorable record of use- 
fulness, the academy, to the great regret of its 
friends, closed its separate existence in 1886. 
During the last few years the attendance had been 
very small, owing to various causes, anfl the 
trustees felt that the purpose for which the institu- 
tion was founded could be better carried out by its 
union with the common school system of the 
town. Steps were accordingly taken to bring this 
about, and in October, 1887, the General Court 
approved the "Act to Establish the Adams School 
District in Derry." After defining the boundaries 
of the district and specifying its officers, the act 
provides that : 

The duties of the president shall be to preside at all meet- 
ings of the district, of the clerk to keep all records of the dis- 
trict, and of the joint board and of the treasurer to receive any 
money paid by the trustees of the will of Jacob Adams, late of 
Derry, deceased, or any other money properly paid to him for 
school purposes. 

The authority of the town under the laws of 1885, chap- 
ter 43, as to assessing and collecting taxes in said Adams School 
District and appropriating the same for school purposes shall 
continue as if this act had not passed. When it shall be decided 
by the courts of this state, upon application made, that the real 
estate and the income of the personal property, now in the 
hands of the aforesaid trustees, can be used and appropriated by 
said trustees for educational puri)oses in connection with the 
district school in the said Adams School District, then the said 
president, clerk, and treasurer shall constitute a joint board to 
act with the town school board in selecting a teacher and fixing 
the compensation, and it shall then be the duty of the board of 
education of said town to contract with said trustees and pay a 
reasonable rent for the use of the school building now held by 
said trustees, with the assent of said joint district board, and 
any scholars from other parts of the town district may attend 
the school in said Adams School District free of tuition with the 
consent of the town board. 



Such sum as shall be paid for rent, together with the income 
of any fund in the hands of said trustees, shall be appropriated 
as nearly as may be for the education of females, together with 
all school children of said district, and for increasing the 
efficiency of the district school at a location according to the 
will of said Adams. 



JOHN MOORE seems to have given the early 
settlers of Nutficld no little trouble. Sickness 
had brought on poverty, and there was no appro- 
priation for the support of the poor. Accordingly, 
in the warrant for the annual town meeting in 
1730 the eighth article read: "To see what the 
town will do about John Moore." Providence, 
however, interfered before the meeting was held 
and saved the town from its embarrassment, for 
the record says : " 8th article deferred by reason 
John Moore is dead." 




SOLDIERS MONUMENT, MANCHESTER. 




<C\AJJV\AXJ 




n 



THE HIGH RANGE AND MOOSE HILL. 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPMY. 



THE importance of a range is not estimated by John McClurg's lot; also seventy rods of meadow 
the quality of the soil, but by the characteris- between the lots of John Wallace and John 
tics and persistent economical habits of the people. Givean ; also thirty rods of meadow between John 
The most refractory and inhospitable portions of Wallace's and David Morrison's lot. These mea- 
thc township have yielded to sturdy and repeated dovvs were scattered widely and must have been 
attacks of the husbandman through many years of harvested with considerable difficulty. Under date 
working days not limited to ten hours, nor even of Oct. 28, 1720, there is upon record the state- 
measured bv the rising and setting sun. Every ment that Abram Holmes had not complied with 
settler was a proprietor at the beginning, and the homestead conditions and had requested the 
probal)ly few among these proprietors had any committee of public affairs to allow him until the 
money for the hire of assistants. The greater part first of January to make a settlement upon his lot. 
of trade consisted in the exchange of ])roducts of Permission was granted, with the understanding 
the land for necessary imports. that he must settle then or the lot would be dis- 
iVn examination of the records of the town posed of to others ready to make immediate 
of Londonderrv in res])ect to the original occupa- settlement: 

tion of the Hiyh Range and adjoining lands dis- t „„^„„.^ ■■■.. m^ . k m, „ r -n 1 j ** m 

■^ '^ J '^ Londonaeny November 30 " 1736. 1 lien laid out to Abra- 

closes the fact that while the allotments were not ham Holmes ninety acres of land for twenty eight acres of good 

made until the town had been settled nearly land which is thirteen acres of amendment land, said land lieth 



twentv years, the same names a])pear in the 
schedule. Some of these proprietors appear to 
have considered the actiuisition of territory a 
source of revenue, anti the wisdom ot their judg- 
ment is generally manifested in the long contin- 
uance of the ancestral name in the community. As 
an instance of this characteristic and of this persist- 
ence of name, it mavbe noted that Abram I k)lmes 
was the proprietor of a iiomestead of sixty acres of 
land in the Eayers Range, and for his second division 
he received a farm that was called forty acres, more 
or less, and measured eighty acres, being one hun- 
dred and sixty rods long anti eighty rods wide ; 
also one acre and one hundred and forty-five rods 
of meadow at Bear hill, just west of Samuel Mor- 
rison's lot ; also a meadow of thirty-five rods near 
'it 



north of Bear meadow in said town : beginning at a pine tree 
marked standing at a meadow that goes by the name of Cald- 
well's meadow, then west one hundred and sixty three rods to a 
maple tree marked, then north one hundred and three rods by 
marked trees to a stake anil stones, then east one hundred and 
sixty three rods to a pine tree marked J. H. then south to the 
bounds first mentioned. Note there are four acres of land in 
said bounds reserved for a higliway to the town where they see 
cause to lay it out, in said land, and this with some land in 
Canada is full satisfaction for the amendment land of the afore- 
said Holmes. Note: all the corners are marked |. H. John 
Archibald, James Rogers, John Wallace, committee. Recorded 
this 8"' of September, 1738. Pr. John Wallace, 

7own Clerk. 

At a meeting of the proprietors of Londonderry June r' 
1738, the foregoing record was read and approved of by the pro- 
prietors aforesaid for the aforesaid Abraham Holmes' benefit 
and his assigns forever. Attest per John Wallace, 

Town Clerk. 



^\i 



^' 












-^^ c^.*^£5 €ci^^ c^^ 









:x<; 







MAP OF A PORTION OF THE HIGH RANGE AND MOOSE HILL, 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF JSfUTFIELD. 



23 S 



Londonderry. November 30"' 1736. Then laid out lo 
Abraham Hohnes ninety acres of land for twenty two acres of 
good land which is for eleven acres of amendment land, said 
land is situated and lieth in Londonderry aforesaid south west 
of the five-and-twenty acre meadow, beginning at a pitch ])ine 
tree marked standing on the line of David Morrison's land from 
thence south-west-by-south one hundred and sixty six rods by 
marked trees to a pitch pine tree marked J. H. from thence 
south east eighty two rods by marked trees to pitch pine tree 
marked J. H. and bounding on the conmion land, thence north- 
east-by-north to the five-and-twenty acre meadow to a stake and 
stones, then up said meadow bounds thirty nine rods to said 
Morrison's land, then southwest about twenty five rods to a 
pitch pine tree marked, then northwest to the bounds first men- 
tioned. Note that there are four acres of land in said bounds 
reser\ ed for a highway to the town where they see cause to lay 
it out. Also note that the laid out meadows in said bounds are 
reserved to their owners. John Archibald, James Rogers, John 
\\'allace, Committee. Recorded this 8"' of September 1738. 

Pr. John Wallace, 

Town Clerk. 

At a meeting of the proprietors of Londonderry June i^' 
1738 the foregoing record was read and approved of by the 
aforesaid proprietors for the aforesaid Abraham Holmes' benefit 
and his assigns forever. Attest ])r John Wallace, 

linen Clerk. 

In the allotment of land to Abram Holmes 
the reader is made acquainted with a common 
feature of the records. There were other proprie- 
tors who received, much more land, but this is an 
average amount, and the name has remained to 
the present. The farm of ninety acres laid out to 
Abraham Holmes at the north end- of the High 
Range at this present time is divided into several 
|iarts and owned bv Plummer, Greely, Gage, and 
McAllester. All except Daniel Gage of Lowell 
arc townspeople. Jonathan McAllester, a lineal 
descendant of David McAllester, owns a portion 
and lives near by on his ancestral domains east of 
liear meadow on the road leading to the High 
Range over Moose hill. David Morrison was a 
brother-in-law to David McAllester, and within ten 
years of the time the two hundred and forty acres 
were laid out to hitn, or about the period of his 
brother-in-law's settlement in Londonderry, con- 
veyed a large portion of this land to him, and there 
the name of McAllester has remained for more 
than a hundred and fifty years. 

The farm ne.xt south of Abraham Holmes, 
laid out to Stephen Pierce and Samuel Morrison, 
is owned by George Plummer. Stephen Pierce, 



who was the grandfather of President Franklin 
Pierce, as a proprietor under the charter, received 
a homestead between the English Range and the 
Three Quarter Mile Range. 

The farm assigned to Andrew Spalding has 
been divided into manv portions. One portion 
was known as the Dismoor farm. Bennett, Hurd, 
and Greely about cover the limits of the original 
lot. Matthew Clark was a large landholder and 
left his sons many farms in various parts of the 
town. His homestead was located in the English 
Range. He was drowned accidentally at Amos- 
keag Falls, May 28, 1731, and his estate passed to 
his heirs soon after this lot of one hundred and 
sixty acres of land was assigned to him. 

The present owners of the Matthew Clark lot 
are Lowd, Miller, Towns, and Farley. Samuel 
Houston's lot descended to the Caldwclls, and 
Bolles, perhaps, although it is not alwavs clearly 
evident that certain boundaries are original, and 
the former lines of division cannot be ascertained 
without actual surveys. 

It is traditionally affirmed that Charles S. 
Pillsbury occupies the original lot of James Gregg 
and J3enjamin Kidder. At the date of the laying 
out of this lot of one hundred and seventy-five 
acres to Gregg and Kidder the southern boundary 
was recorded as touching on John Goffe's land. 
The clerical ambiguity is permitted to remain in 
the spelling of the name, as no person can identify 
the owner at the present time, and the land was 
soon afterward assigned to John Woodburn and 
John Senter, two persons whose histories are 
indelibly impressed upon the lives and memories of 
many generations. 

The highway leading southward across the 
easterly ends of the High Range farms was a very 
important line of communication before the con- 
struction of the Mammoth road. It connected at 
the south end with the old Dunstable path, now 
known as the Nashua road from Derry. 

The lot of eighty acres laid out to Samuel 
Barr came into the possession of the family of 
Peter Patterson and remained a long time in their 
name. They also obtained a part of the Cargill 
land, the upper portion, and Thomas Patterson 
died there a few years ago. The greater part of 
the Cargill land was eventually converted into 



236 



WILLETS JJOOK OF NUTriELD. 



farms, and bv patient industry became tbe cul- the countrv in i 730, and if credence is to be given 

tivated and valuable homesteads of the Boyds. to the reports of some of the oldest residents of 

Col. Calvin and Mason Boyd, making extensive that part of the town, those pitch pine trees 

improvements on their farms, erecting large build- marked with initials of owners im one or more 

ings, raising large families, and dying at an sides stood a long time, in fact were of longer 

advanced age, are worthilv remembered and hon- duration than the generation that saw them 

ored bv their townsmen. marked and registered. 

There was at the date of the allotment of land As stated, a portion of David Morrison's lot 

a large area of meadow. Some of these meadow was deeded to David McAllester, and upon that 

areas are represented on the map with names, l)ut Jonathan McAllester now lives. The two par- 



ten times the 
number are re- 
corded in the Pro- 
prietors' Book. 
Among these 
meadows per- 
haps the five-and- 
twenty acre mea- 
dow is a fair speci- 
men. It was di- 
vided into innu- 
merable parts, and 
the early settlers 
living several 
miles distant were 
anxious to have 
even a small por- 
tion of a few 
square rods in this 
meadow. Some- 
times these mea- 
dows were four 
or five miles in 
length, extending 
throughout the 
whole course of 
a river, brook, or 



s o n a g e s 




SCHOOI.HOU.se in district no. I, LONDONDERRY. 



and 

churches on the 
Mammoth road, 
and the soldiers' 
monument and 
Glenwood cem- 
etery, are all lo- 
cated on the Mor- 
rison land. The 
two houses and 
other buildings of 
the Macks are on 
this tract, with 
the greater part 
of their farms. 
The Mack farms 
include a portion 
of the lot granted 
to Andrew Todd, 
and among the 
relics found in 
Robert C. Mack's 
antiquarian col- 
lection is a pow- 
der horn picked 
up in the woods 
near his house. 



creek, and only a few rods wide at the widest, and with such engravings and letters traced in the 

for some portions of the stream the width was horn that he believed it to have been the property 

inconsiderable. of Lieut. Andrew Todd. 

Some care has been taken to indicate the cor- It has been noted that this part of the town 
ner bounds of these old allotments of land, as was allotted nearly twenty years after the settle- 
adding an interest in the map to those who have ment, but it remains to point out to the reader 
had anv experience in surveying, or derive pleasure that the meadows were appropriated as early as 
from the perusal of old deeds, or enjoy the recog- any lantl in the township, and probably were cut 
nition of a landmark that was old in the davs of and harvested for more than forty years before the 
their grandfathers. The i)itch pine tree was a Nutlield colony thought of securing a claim upon 
common bound in the records of this section of them. The people of Haverhill continued to 



WILLEV'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



m 



maintain their rights to meadows in the easterly 
part of the town, and the people of Dracut, Tyngs- 
horough, and Dunstable contended for the west 
and the south for many years after the charter of 
King George I. granted a township to this colony 
in the name of Londonderry. 

Julv 28, 1723, there was laid out to James 
Blair one acre and ninety rods of meadow in the 
upper end of Bear meadow, bounded by the 
upland and by stakes that bounded some meadow 
of James Leslie. As James Blair lived in the 
English Range, he must have travelled twelve 
miles, counting both ways, for a day's work 
harvesting hay in that meadow, unless he sold his 
right to others. The same day there was laid out 
and recorded to James Leslie one acre and seventv 
rods of meadow in Bear meadow bounded by 
stakes between James Blair on the north and 
James Lindsey and Matthew Clark on the south. 
Looking at the records again, it is seen that James 
Lindsey had for his share one acre and a half of 
the meadow at Bear meadow at the lower end and 
bounded on Leslie and Clark by stakes. Sir 
James Leslie lived in the English Range, as did 
also James Lindsey and the others. On the same 
date there was laid out to Matthew Clark at Bear 
meadow one acre and a quarter of meadow 
l)Ounded by stakes on Samuel Houston and James 
Lindsey, and thus every record adds a new name 
to the list of owners to a small meadow that 
not one of the proprietors lived within six miles of, 
and in a region not appropriated or platted into 
farms for many years afterward. Tiiis was an 
unsettled region and the bear, moose, and wolves, 
with other smaller beasts, still claimed the privi- 
lege of picking berries, or browsing upon the 
tender shrubs, and other benefactions of nature 
not yet claimed by man. 

It is quite probable that John Goffe is the 
earlier form of a familiar name. And it is alleged 
on good authority that John Goffe was a refugee 
in this country prior to the settlement of the Nut- 
field colony, being one of the three famous 
regicides of history (Wheaton, Whallev, and Goffe) 
that were concealed in Connecticut for a time. 
John Goffe may have been a squatter or a home- 
steader on the theory of occupation eventually 
securing a title, for it appears that the old book of 



records, called erroneously, perhaps, the Proprie- 
tors' Book, contains these entries, subjoined for 
the delectation of those who are interested in 
searching (Hit the footsteps of marked individuals : 
"John Goffe, Jr., was born March i6th, 1700; 
Hannah Goffe was born Feb. 4th, 1705-6; Sarah 
Goffe was born Aug. ig, 1709; Mary Goffe was 
born April 12, 1711." At the time these children 
were born to John Goffe, neither Londonderry nor 
Nutfield was here, but with the families of Butter- 
field, and Smith, and Graves, and Phillips, and 
others, they were here in anticipation. 



npHRIFT AND SORROW do not seem to 
■1 be necessarily incompatible. It is related of 
one of the early settlers of that part of Nutfield 
called Kilrea, that she was a very industrious 
woman and that her natural bent of character was 
shown at her husband's funeral. While the corpse 
was awaiting the rites of burial, she called out, 
impatient of delay: " Hand me the spinning wheel, 
and I will draw a thread while the crowd are 
gathering." Just as philosophical as she was Old 
Mellows, who lived north of the cemetery on 
Graveyard hill. His wife had gone on a visit to 
Beverly, and on returning in a rickety old chaise 
she was thrown out and her neck broken. At the 
funeral, two days later, the afflicted husband 
remarked that had it not been for " the little delay 
at Beverly, Betsey would be with us on this great 
occasion." 




CIIURl HOUSi:, iMANCHESl lik. 



HON. JOHN GAULT CRAWFORD. 



HON. JOHN GAULT CRAWFORD, son of 
Hosea W. and Caroline M. (Gault) Craw- 
ford, was born in Oakham, Mass., April 21, 1834. 
His ancestors, who came to America in 1713. were 
among: the first settlers of Rutland, Mass. Aaron 
Crawford, the first of that name in this country, 
and his wife, Agnes Wilson, were Scotch-Irish. 
The family is descended from Alexander, the 
second son of Sir Mal- 
colm Crawford of Kil- 
birny, Scotland, the fif- 
teenth in descent from Jo- 
hannes de Craufurd, who 
lived about the year 1 140, 
and is the first one of the 
name of whom there is 
any record. John G. 
Crawford is of the twenty- 
sixth generation from Jo- 
hannes. His great-grand- 
father was a captain in the 
Revolutionary war and 
was present at the capture 
of Burgoyne. His grand- 
father also served in the 
Continental army for a 
time near the close (jf 
the struggle for inde- 
pendence. John G. Craw- 
ford's earlv educational 
advantages were limited 
to the district schools of- 
his town, with a few 
terms at the academy. 
In the spring of 1855 he 

went to Kansas, when the territory was first 
opened to settlement, and took an active part in 
the struggle with the border ruffians, serving with 
General Lane and John Brown. Returning to 
Massachusetts in 1856, he resumed his studies and 
in 1859 entered the law office of J. M. Gorham of 
Barre, Mass., continuing iiis legal studies and 
teaching winters until the spring of 1861, when he 
went to Michigan on a visit. A few days after 
his arrival there Fort Sumter was fired on, and 
Mr. Crawford immediately began addressing war 




HON. JOHN G. CRAWFORD. 



meetings and raising volunteers. Enlisting in 
September as a private in the Second Michigan 
Cavalry, he was appointed sergeant major and 
later was commissioned lieutenant and detailed as 
battalion adjutant by Philip H. Sheridan, who was 
then colonel of the regiment. Returning to 
Michigan in 1863, he raised a company for the 
tenth cavalrv and was commissioned captain by 

Governor Blair. He was 
in twenty engagements 
and was twice wounded. 
In 1864 he was elected 
to the Michigan state 
senate and served two 
years. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1865 at 
Pontiac, Mich., and to 
the United States court 
in 1867. Removing to 
Lancaster, N. H., in 1870, 
he practiced law until 
1 88 1, when he was ap- 
pointed by President Gar- 
field United States consul 
at Coaticook, Canada, 
holding that office three 
years and winning a repu- 
tation as one of the most 
efficient consuls in the 
service. He came to 
Manchester in 1890 and 
has been engacjed in the 
practice of his profession 
ever since. Mr. Craw- 
ford has been on the 
stump in every campaign since 1856, and being an 
eloquent and earnest advocate of Republican prin- 
ciples, he has rendered incalculable service to his 
party. His reputation as a public speaker is by 
no means confined to New Hampshire, for he has 
been in great demand as a campaign orator in 
Michigan, Massachusetts, Vermont, and other 
states. The voters of 137 towns have listened to 
him, and many close districts have been carried 
for his ticket by his masterly presentation of the 
issues. April 16, 1863, Mr. Crawford married 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



239 



Emma Tindall in Michiyan ; after her death he 
was married, June 30, 1867, to Ahbie T. Stevens 
of Frankhn, Mass., and on April 30, 18S5, his 
second wife having died, he was united in marriage 
to Marv A. Harrington of Worcester, Mass. He 
has one daughter, Carrie E., born Sept. 30, 1870. 
Mr. Crawford is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity and of Louis Bell Post, G. A. R. He attends 
the Hanover-Street Congregational church. 



COL. ANDREW C. WALLACE was born 
in Antrim Oct. 26, 1820. He is a great- 
grandson of Deacon Isaac Cochran, who was an 
officer in the Revolutionary war and who was 
present at the surrender of Burgoyne. Deacon 
Cochran built the first two-story house in the town 
of Antrim, where he settled in 1785. Col. Wallace 
lived in his native town until he was seven- 
teen years of age, when his father, who was a 
carpenter, removed to Bedford. Here he worked 



at his father's trade until he became of age, and 
coming later to Manchester he was in the employ 
of Baldwin & Stevens until 1848, when he pur- 
chased their machinery and started in business for 
himself, manufacturing sash, doors, and blinds. 
He was burned out in 1852, and he then removed 
to Littleton, where he remained about a year 
engaged in business. Returning in the spring of 
1853, he established himself on Main street, where 
he has ever since been located and where he 
carries on a large business in the manufacture and 
sale of lumber. He has erected several business 
blocks and is a large real estate owner. Col. 
Wallace has always been greatly interested in the 
fire department and in the state militia. From 
1848 until 1882 he was a member of the fire 
department, and for eight years was on the board 
of engineers. He was an active memiier of the 
old Stark Guard, and a charter member of the 
Amoskeag Veterans, being major commanding of 





COL. A. C. WALLACE AMD HIS LUMBERMEN. 



240 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



the latter organization wlien it visited the centen- 
nial exposition in 1S76. In politics, Col. Wallace 
has been one of the most efficient workers and 
wisest leaders of the Republican party, and his 
efforts have many times enabled that party to carry 
the city. He was a member of the board of alder- 
men in 1857-58 and in 1881-82, and of the state 
legislature in 1856, '71, and '72. Other honors 
have frequently been urged upon him, but he has 
declined them all. Since its organization he has 
been a valued member of the water commission. 




COL. A. C. WALLACE. 



As a breeder and owner of bkiodcd road and trot- 
ting horses. Col. Wallace is one of the best known 
men in New England. Few men possess such 
excellent judgment concerning horses as he, and 
his opinion is frequently sought. For years he 
owned the noted stallion Ned Wallace, whose 
record was 2.25, the fastest trotter of his day in 
New Hampshire. Col. Wallace was president of 
the Manchester Driving Park Company for several 
)'ears and has perhaps done more than any other 
one man to promote the interests of the trotting 
turf in this vicinity. 



HORACE GREELEY'S VISIT.— Horace 
Greeley visited Londonderry in the autumn 
of 1832. He was then about twenty-one years 
old, tall, pale, and thin, somewhat awkward, but 
dignified and manly. Making the home of John 
Dickey his headquarters for more than a week, he 
visited his relatives and old acquaintances in the 
neiorhl)orhood, startina: out in the morninsf and 
returning at night. His evenings were spent in 
reading or telling stories in his quaint and pleasing 
way. Sometimes sights and incidents of New 
York life were the subjects of his conversation, 
but his greatest delight was in relating anecdotes 
of settlers on the western frontier. He always 
fascinated both young and old. During his stay 
he attended a militia muster of the old eighth 
regiment on the field of John Pinkerton. Although 
not much interested in military affairs, he started 
off with high hopes of meeting some friends whom 
he had not yet seen. Rain, however, spoiled the 
day's enjoyment, and he soon returned, and 
expressed a rather indifferent opinion of New 
Hampshire militia musters, declaring that "they 
weren't much of an institution, after all." After 
partaking of the hospitalities of all his relatives in 
Londonderry, Manchester, and Windham, he 
departed for the scene of his labors, and in a few 
months started his first newspaper, the New 
Yorker. He was in town again in June, 1840, on 
iiis wav to the Harrison convention at Concord, 
and he sul)scquentlv made frequent visits to Lon- 
donderry, twice being accompanied by his wife, 
and on three occasions he made public addresses 
in town. In 1847 he spoke at Derry, Exeter, and 
Chester, and while at the latter place was the 
guest of Hon. Samuel Bell, whom he ever after- 
ward spoke of as resembling his ideal states- 
man, Henry Clay. At the time of Greeley's death 
there were 119 residents of Londonderry who 
were of his kith and kin. 



DEER-KEEPERS, "to sec that the dear should 
not be destroyed," were chosen annually by 
the town of Lontlondcrry as late as 1768. Deer 
were frequently seen within the limits of old Nut- 
field in the early years of the present century, but 
they were not so numerous as to require the 
services of a keeper. 



WILL£:T'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



24t 



JOHN PLUMER, son of Deacon John and 



NOAH S. CLARK, son of Noah and Mary 
(Wood) Clark, was born in Quincy, Mass., 



Mary (Person) Plumcr, was born in Goffs- 
town April 29, 182 1. He received the common May 17, 1830. His father, a farmer by occupa- 
school education of the place, wrought faithfully tion, was born in Chester and his mother in 
on his father's farm until he was twenty-one, and Auburn. Having graduated from the Manchester 
then came to Manchester, with only pluck, hon- High School in 1848, he began his mercantile 
esty, and a good name, to earn his living. He first career as a clerk, and by his industry and strict 
found employment in the furniture store of attention to business paved the way to the 
John B. Goodwin, in 
the building called 
the " Ark" (which 
also migrated from 
Goffstown), on the 
spot now occupied 
by Dunlap block. 
Soon leaving that 
business, however, he 
entered the clothing 
trade, and finally pur- 
chased, about 1844, 
the stand then num- 
bered 60 and 61 on 
Elm street. Prom 
that time until his 
death he conducted 
a most successful and 
honorable business, 
for the most part in 
his own name, but 
also as a member of 
the firms of Gilbert tS: 
Plumer and Plumer 
& Bailey. His na- 
tive goodness, his 
honesty, his genial 
and kindly nature, 
made him many 
friends, and there are 

those yet living who bought of him years ago and Joshua B. Estey into partnership. Since then the 
who purchase their garments at the same stand business has been conducted by the firm of Clark 
from the force of old associations. The daily & Estey. Mr. Clark has performed valuable 
press of the city bore testimony to the character public service as member of the board of aldermen, 
of Mr. Plumer as a man of scrupulous integrity, and also as a member of the Manchester police 
universally beloved for his kind and amiable disposi- commission. He has been for many years a 
tion and the gentlemanly courtesy he manifested to director in the Manchester National bank and in 
all. Mr. Plumer married, Dec. 2, 1851, Lucy A., the Concord & Montreal railroad. In his religious 
daughter of Jesse and Alice (Steele) Cheney. They affiliations he is connected with the Pranklin- 
had two children, neither of whom are now living. Street Congregational church, and he is a member 




^^/iy ^y7^u^<^!-^ f^' 



eminent success 
which he has since 
achieved as a mer- 
chant. After a cleri- 
cal service extending 
over several years in 
Manchester, Boston, 
New Haven, Chi- 
cago, Cincinnati, and 
New \'ork, he re- 
turned to this city in 
1856 and engaged in 
business for himself 
in a building situated 
at the corner of Elm 
and Hanover streets, 
known as the " Old 
Ash." He remained 
there for a year and 
then removed to 
Hanover street, 
where he was burned 
out at the time of 
the great fire. He 
then removed to his 
present location, the 
famous " Big Six " 
store, and was in 
business alone until 
1884, when he took 



54* 



WILLET'S noOK OP NUTFIELD. 



of the Derryfield Clul). Ranking among the most 
successful merchants of the state, Mr. Clark's 
opinion at all times carries weight in mercantile 
and financial quarters, and he is held in high 
esteem by the community at large. Mr. Clark 




NOAH S. CLARK. 



was married to Eliza M., daughter of Gordon and 
Mary (Barr) Atwood of Bedford. His children 
are: Edward W., a commercial traveller residing 
in Boston; Clara Belle of Somerville, Mass.; 
George Matthews, a carpenter, and Helen W. 



poration as a city, and he was a member of the 
first common council from Ward i. In 1833 
he was made quartermaster of the third division of 
the militia, with the rank of colonel, and he was a 
member of the old Piscataquog engine company, 
whose pump was the first piece of fire apparatus in 
this vicinity. Col. Kidder was chosen president of 
the Amoskeag bank in 1852, and the same year 
was made a director in the Concord railroad. In 
1857 he went to Washington, and for two years 
was interested with Col. Franklin Tcnney in the 
management of the National Hotel. Returning 
to Manchester in 1839, he was in the flour and 
grain business until 1880, and three years later he 
retired from active life. Col. Kidder joined the 
Masonic order in 1849, and, excepting that of 
Grand Master, has held all the high offices in the 
Grand Lodge of the state. For forty-one years he 
was treasurer of Mount Horeb Royal Arch Chap- 









jM^Bp?^^ 


4 


iif'^^ 


. 


iv.- 



COL. JOHN S. KIDDER was born in Man- 
chester May 31, 181 1, being, on his mother's 
side, a direct descendant of Gen. John Stark, 
whom he often saw in his boyhood. His father 
owned a large farm bounded by Lowell and Har- 
rison streets and extending eastward to the Amos- 
keag company's ledge, and here his early life was 
passed. He was educated in the public schools, 
and in 1831, at the age of twenty, began business 
for himself by opening a general store in Piscata- ter, and he has been a member of the Independent 
quog. In 1834, during President Jackson's admin- Order of Odd Fellows since 1843. Col. Kidder is 
istration, he was appointed postmaster of that an old-line Democrat, having cast his first vote for 
place and held the office until 1840. He served Andrew Jackson in 1832, and since then he has 
as police officer in Manchester before its incor- never missed voting at a presidential election. 



COL. JOHN S. KIDDER. 



IVIL LET'S BOOK OF" NUTFIELD. 



243 



A LONZO 11. WESTON, son of Samuel S. 
t\ and Roxana (Bell) Weston, was born March 
4, 1832, in New Hudson, N. Y. He is a grandson 
of Jonathan Bell of Goffstown, who served in the 
Revolution and fought at Bunker Hill under Gen. 
Stark. When he was two years of age his parents 
moved to Goffstown, and here his boyhood days 
were passed in attendance at the village schools 
and in learning the 
blacksmith's trade in 
his father's shop. 
Having a taste for 
mercantile life, he 
went to Rushford, 
N. v., where he was 
a clerk in a general 
store for two years. 
He came to Man- 
chester in 1852 and 
was employed as 
clerk in the dry 
goods stores of Wil- 
liam Putney and 
William White until 
1859. The following 
year he started in 
the same business 
for himself in Gran- 
ite block, remaining 
there until 1864, 
when he bought the 
clothing business of 
Jacob Morse, located 
at No. 836 Elm 
street. After sev- 
eral years of success- 
ful business life and 
increasing cares, he 

admitted Arthur E. Martin to partnership, consti- 
tuting the firm of Weston & Martin. Mr. Weston 
has always aimed to do business on an honorable 
i)asis, earning for the firm its high reputation for 
integrity and fair dealing. He was a member of 
the first board of trade in i860 and is a member of 
the present board. In 1895 he built a large block 
at the corner of Lowell and Chestnut streets, 
known as Weston Terrace (see cut of block 
on page 246). In politics he is a Republican. 



and he attends the Unitarian church. He is a 
member of all the various bodies of Masonry, 
including the Knights Templar, the thirty-second 
degree Scottish Rite, and the Mystic Shrine. 
Jan. 14, 1856, Mr. Weston married Miss Letitia 
Morse Richards, daughter of Darius M. and 
Elizabeth (Morse) Richards of Cambridge, Mass. 
Two children have been born to them : Lill Anna, 

now the wife of 
George L. Jenks, 
treasurer of the 
Waterville Cutlery 
Company, of W^ater- 
V i 1 1 e. Con n., a n d 
Maude Richards, 
born Dec. 10, 1866, 
died Oct. 19, 1873. 




D " 

*-^ • wa! 



ALONZO H. WESTON. 



YOUNG 

'as born in 
Manchester May 10, 
1833. Two years 
later his parents re- 
moved to London- 
derry, and he was 
educated in the com- 
mon schools of that 
town, returning to 
Manchester in 1852 
and attending school 
on Manchester 
street. Having 
worked at the shoe 
business and also at 
the mason's trade for 
a few years, he 
started in business 
for himself in 1836, and continued until 1869 
Since 1868 he has been in the real estate business, 
and at the present time he owns and cares for in 
person more than sixty tenements in different 
parts of the city. For five or six years he was 
engaged in the lumber trade in addition to his real 
estate interests. Mr. Young is a man of great 
business ability, having derived profit from every 
enterprise in which he has embarked, and he has 
always invested nearly all his earnings in real 



244 



WTLLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



estate, believing it the safest and in the end the of training and being a thorough commercial 
most lucrative form of investment. He is a thirty- scholar, Mr. Heron has all the qualifications which 
second degree Mason, and is also a member of the enable him to maintain for his school the high 
Odd Fellows, of the Amoskeag Grange, and of position which it has won. There have been 

enrolled upon its register the names of more than 
' 5,800 students since it was founded, and the insti- 

tution has received the hearty indorsement of all 
I . 1 the leading business men of the city. Mr. Heron 

is thoroughly abreast of the times, and has 
gradually added to the school new courses and 
new facilities for instruction, until now the curric- 
ulum includes all the branches of a business 
■ education. The secret of Mr. Heron's success 

may be told in one word — thoroughness. His 
pupils learn that whatever is worth doing at all 




DAVID H. VOUNG. 



the Amoskeag Veterans. 



Mr. Young is a strong 
Democrat, and in 1880 was a delegate to the 
national convention. In 1878 he was the candi- 
date of his partv for railroad commissioner. 




WILLIAM HERON, JR., who since 1880 
has been principal of the Bryant & Strat- 
ton Business College in Manchester, was born in 
Schenectady, N. Y., where he lived until coming 
to this city. He was educated in his native city 
and at Troy. The institution at the head of 
which he has been for so many years is one of the 
oldest and best known commercial colleges in the 
Eastern states and ranks with the best schools of 
its class in the country. It has been, since its 
establishment m 1865, a most important factor in 
the commercial and mercantile life of the city and is worth doing well, and that of itself almost consti- 
state, having numbered among its pupils many tutcs an education. He was married in his native 
who subsequently achieved distinguished success city, and four children have been added to the 
in the business world. Having enjoyed the best family. (See cut of school building, page 326.) 




WILLET'S BOOK OB NUTFIELD. 



245 



DR. GEORGE L. WAKEFIELD was born 
in Plymouth, Vt., Oct. 18, 1846. His 
parents moved to Claremont, N. H., where he 
lived until the war broke out. His father, Har- 
vey M. Wakefield, was a machinist who worked at 
his trade until 1861 and then enlisted in the Fifth 
New Hampshire \"olunteers. He died in July, 
1862, from injuries received while at work on the 
famous Grapevine bridge which Col. Cross, with 
his Fifth New Hampshire Regiment, built across 
the Chickahominy river, near Richmond. His 
mother's name was Mary Ray, a daughter of 




DR. GEORGE L. WAKEFIELD. 



Reuben Ray, who was a soldier under Gen. Wash- 
ington during the Revolution. Young Wakefield 
received his education in the pultlic schools and at 
the Claremont Academy until the time of his 
enlistment, which was in his graduating year. 
News came of his father's death, July 25, 1862, 
and he enlisted the following day, being mustered 
into Company G, Ninth New Hampshire Regi- 
ment, at Concord, Aug. 13, two months before his 
sixteenth birthday. He served every da}^ with his 
regiment until Oct. i, 1864, when his right elbow 
was shattered by a minie ball, which necessitated 



his removal to the hospital. Previous wounds 
received in the service, together with the fact that 
he was obliged to care for himself for several days 
before reaching the hospital at Alexandria, so 
depleted his strength that his life was despaired of, 
and he was at once placed in the ward with the 
fatal cases ; but he held tenaciously to life. 
Wounded in his head, in his body, in his shoulder 
and elbow, and elsewhere, he was obliged to stand 
on his feet for three months. Then he began to 
convalesce and soon obtained a furlough. Return- 
ing to the hospital, he was ordered to the Invalid 
Corps, which was not all satisfactory to the old 
soldier, and he was transferred to the Manchester 
Hospital and subsequently to Galloupe's Island, 
Boston Harbor, whence, after a rough and unpleas- 
ant experience, he returned to his regiment 
March 19, 1865, remaining with his company and 
doing duty with his right arm in a sling until the 
close of the war. He was mustered out as ser- 
geant June 10, 1865, having shared the vicissitudes 
of the Ninth Regiment in more than twenty 
sanguinary battles and having been wounded four 
times. He was commended for his coolness in 
emergencies, his bravery in action, and his rigid 
adherence to every demand of duty. 

While in the service he began the study of 
medicine with Dr. A. J. Moulton, a comrade in his 
company. In March, 1866, he went to Pepin 
county, Wisconsin, where he continued his studies 
with Dr. T. M. Sims of Durand, and began the 
practice of medicine in 1870. Later he took a 
special course in gynecology under Prof Ludlum 
at the Hahnemann Medical Collesje in Chicaeo. 
Although political honors were frequently offered 
him in Wisconsin, he always declined them, 
preferring to use his influence in the " third house " 
in securing the passage of bills to improve the 
highways in Pepin and Pierce counties. As chair- 
man of a committee of river improvements elected 
by the people of his town. Dr. Wakefield urged 
upon Congress the establishment of a harbor of 
refuge at Stockholm, Wis., and pushed the work 
to a successful issue. The residents of the Wis- 
consin side of Lake Pepin will long remember the 
doctor's work in securing the passage of the har- 
bor bill. Besides attending to a large medical 
practice, the doctor conducted a drug store and 



246 



MIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



acted as agent of the St. Louis & St. Paul steam- 
[)oat line. He also represented several commis- 
sion houses, thus keeping the trade at home and 
contributing toward the rapid building of the town 
of Stockholm. In 1884 he was selected by Gov. 
Rusk, with nineteen others, as a guard of honor to 
attend the funeral of Gen. Grant in New York, 
and in the same year he was a delegate to the 
national encampment of the Grand Army. He 
was first commander of Chas. Coleman Post No. 
82, department of Wisconsin, and twice after was 
commander, and a very active G. A. R. member. 
In 1888 Dr. Wakefield returned to New 
Hampshire, where he has since quietly pursued 
the practice of medicine. He is an earnest 
student of his profession and attends special 
clinics in Boston m diseases of women, in which 
specialty he has achieved great success, and he is a 
valued member of the New Hampshire Homreo- 
pathic Societv. The doctor has been president, 



necrologist, and is surgeon of the Ninth New 
Hampshire Veteran Association at the Weirs. 
As a member of the publishing committee of 
the Ninth Regiment History, he rendered most 
valuable services in the compilation of that ines- 
timable work. He has been senior vice comman- 
der of Grimes Post No. 25, G. A. R., member of 
the council of administration of the department of 
New Hampshire ; colonel commanding. Command 
No. 3, U. V. U. ; second deputy commander, 
department of New Hampshire, and in 1892 was 
a member of the national encampment of the 
U. V. U. at Boston. 

Dr. Wakefield was married Jan. i, 1870, to 
Miss Sarah Ann Conger, who bore him three 
children, two of whom are now living: Electa E., 
born June 21, 1872, a graduate of the Durand 
High School, and George H., born Dec. 24, 
1874, a carpenter by trade, who resides with his 
parents. 




WESTON TERRACE, CORNER LOWELL AND ( HESTNUT STREETS. (SEE PAGE 243.) 



WlLLET'S J300K OF NUTFIELD. 



547 



FRANK P. KIMBALL, son of John H. and Veterans, and is active and prominent in fraternal 
Mary Kimball, was born March 18, 1852, in organizations, being a member of Washington 
Chelsea, Mass. After attending the public schools Lodge of Masons, Mount Horcb Royal Arch 
(if Jamaica Plain and graduating from Comer's Chapter, and Trinity Commandcr3^ also member 
Commercial College in Boston, he had two years of Manchester Lodge of Elks, and of the U. A. M. 

He is also a member of the Derryfield Club. Mr. 
Kimball's business career in Manchester has been 
enterprising and prosperous. 




p F. McDonnell was bom Dec. 17, 1866, 
LJ- in Manchester. After graduating from the 
Lincoln-street school in 1883, he took a course in 
the Bryant & Stratton Business College, and then 
was employed for a time as bookkeeper for the 
firm of O. P. Stone & Co. In 1885 he decided 
to learn the art of fresco painting and interior 
decorating, and became an apprentice under C. J. 
Schumacher, the well known painter of Boston. 



FRANK P. KIMBALL. 



of mercantile experience in a dry goods house in 
that city. Coming to Manchester in 1869, he 
learned the trade of stone mason and was 
employed for ten years by the Amoskeag com- 
pany and by Moses D. Stokes. Returning to 
mercantile life in 1880, he entered the clothing 
store of C. J. Senter, where he remained until 
1885, when he purchased Hiram Tarbell's clothing 
stock and went into business for himself. The 
following year he bought Mr. Senter's stock and 
showed his enterprise by disposing of it at a great 
profit. Since then his business has developed 
rapidly and to such an extent that in 1894 he 
leased the Weston, Hill & Pitts block for a term 
of years and moved into what is considered one of Having mastered the art, he went into business in 
the finest stores in the state. He employs about Manchester in May, 1891, establishing the firm of 
twenty salesmen, and his stock is always one of McDonnell & Foster, and since March, 1892, has 
the largest to be found in New England. Mr. been in business alone. His place is at 839 Elm 
Kimball is captain of Company B, Amoskeag street. 




B. F. MCDONNELL. 



248 



WILLErs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



AUGUSTUS A. E. BRIEN, M. D., son of Hyacinthe, P. O., being a student at the latter 
Alfred and Louise (Genest) Brien, was born institution about two years. In 1S79 he was 
at St. Simeon, P. O., Oct. 10, 1859. His ancestors graduated at the Jacques-Cartier Normal School 
were among the early settlers of the country in at Montreal, after which he studied medicine in 

the office of E. R. St. Jacques, M. D., and attended 
lectures at the Victoria Medical College, Montreal, 
where he was graduated with the degree of M. D., 
and was awarded a diploma in 1S83. Immediately 
following his graduation he located at Suncook, 
where he practised ten years, and engaged in a 
general drug business in which he still retains an 
interest. In 1892 he opened an office in Man- 
chester, where his success has been of a decided 
character. While residing at Suncook he served 
the town five years as its official physician. He is 
a member of the staff of Notre Dame Hospital. 
Dr. Brien was united in marriage Nov. 20, 1889, 
with Heloise Langelicr, daughter of Theophile 
Langelier, a wholesale merchant of St. Hyacinthe, 
and Victorine (Lallamme) Langelier. Two chil- 
dren have been born to them: Armand, May 10, 
1890; Helene, Jan. 25, 1893. 




DR. A. A. E. BRIEN. 



O' 



,LD TAX RECEIPT.— Mrs. S. A. Stearns 
of East Manchester is in possession of a 
well preserved copy of a ta.x receipt, made out to 
which St. Simeon is located, his father having her father, Jonathan Wood, bearing the signature 
been a well-to-do merchant at that place. Dr. of Jonas L. Parker, who was murdered in Man- 
Brien was educated in the public schools of his Chester March 25, 1845. The receipt is herewith 
native place and at St. Hyacinthe College, St. reproduced. (See " Chapter of Tragedies," p. 249.) 





nJf^ir.^ 



'^ /^C^tP^ 



Your tax in Manchesiei 



■" fe^. for 1844. is comraitted lo Jonas L. Pahker, for colleclion, viz: 



Slate, Cftunty, Town, and School, 
School House, . . - 



-Dollaia. Cents.- 



WOr. 

•^S %^m HighwavTax, 

^?^0 ™ Received Payment, 

m. 



/ 



'"ml 



y^ ^^J.^ 






Collector. 



r^..irt ."'ft 






A CHAPTER OF TRAGEDIES. 



FOR a community of cosmopolitan character, 85-86-87-88-89, Melvin J. Jenkins; 1890-91, 

Manchester, both as a town and a city, has H. W. Longa ; 1892, Michael J. Healy. The first 

been comparatively free from crimes of a serious board of police commissioners consisted of Isaac L. 

nature. Before Manchester began to take on the Heath, Noah S. Clark and Frank P. Carpenter, 

first signs of becoming a manufacturing place, the Upon the resignation of 1. L. Heath, who suc- 

peace and dignity of the town was looked after by ceeded N. P. Hunt as judge of the police court in 

sheriffs and constables, but on Oct. 26, 1839, the May, 1895, David Perkins was appointed his 

citizens of the town voted to establish a system of successor on the police commission, 
police, the selectmen appointing a board of police It is a remarkable fact that in a half a century 

consisting of Mace Moulton, Jacob G. Cilley, and more Manchester has been startled by only 

James Wallace, Henry S. Whitney, Nehemiah two premeditated murders. Other serious crimes 

Chase, Joseph M. Rowell, and Stephen C. Hall, have been few and far between. The first known 

Upon the incorporation as a city, a police court murder by a citizen of Manchester was committed 

was established and a city marshal annuallv on April 4, 182 1, when Daniel D. Farmer assaulted 



elected thereafter. The " lobby," as it was termed 
in the early days, was for many years located in 
one corner of the basement of the city hall, the 
city marshal having an office on the first floor, and 
the police court being held in a room in Riddle's 
block until 1857, when it was held in city hail 
building. The present police station (see page 



a woman of hard character, named Anna Ayer, at 
a house in Gofifstown, l)y striking her on the head 
in a lit of anger. The woman died nine days later. 
Farmer was arrested, tried the following October, 
found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was 
hanged Jan. 23, 1822. 

Sept. 24, 1829, Jeremiah Johnson, a member 



1 94), corner of Manchester and Chestnut streets, of the Manchester Rifle company, was killed by 

was built in 1885 at a cost of about $30,000, and Elbridge Ford in a fracas at the annual Goffstown 

the police department of the city ranks high for its muster. The soldiers had offended somegamblerson 

efficiency. Until 1894 the department was con- the muster field, a fight ensued, during which Ford 

trolled by the mayor and aldermen, but in that struck Johnson on the head with a club, fracturing 

year the police commission was appointed by the his skull. Johnson died the next day. Ford was 

governor. The first justice of the police court was tried for manslaughter in October, 1840, sentenced 

Samuel D. Bell, and his successors up to the to state prison for fi\'e years, but was pardoned 

]iresent have been : Chandler E. Potter, Isaac W. after three years. 

Smith, Samuel Upton, Joseph W. Fellows, John P. The most noted tragedy in the history of 

Bartlett, Nathan P. Hunt, and Isaac L. Heath. Manchester was the Parker murder, which was 



The first city marshal of Manchester, electetl in 
1S46, was George T. Clark. Succeeding marshals 
up to the present, are: 1847, Daniel L. Stevens; 



committed on the evening of March 26, 1845. 
Jonas L. Parker, who had been tax collector the 
year before, lived on Manchester street, near Elm. 



1848-49, Robert Means; 1850, Joseph M. Rowell; Late in the evening named a man called Parker to 

1851-52, D. L. Stevens; 1853-54, William H. his door and said that a Mrs. Bean wanted to see 

Hill; 1855, Samuel Hall ; 1856-57-58, Henry G. him at Janesville on urgent business. Parker 

Lowell ; 1859, I. W. Farmer; i860, John L. Kelly; accompanied the man up Manchester street to the 

1861-62, William B. Patten; 1863; John S. Old Falls road, then on the outskirts of the town. 

Yeaton ; 1864, Henry Clough ; 1865, Bcnj. C. Soon after cries of murder were heard, but no 

Haynes; 1866, Henry Clough ; 1867-68-69-70- attention was paid to them. The next morning 

71 -72, William B. Patten ; 1873, Oilman H. Kim- the dead l)ody of Parker was found near the corner 

ball; 1874-75, Darwin A. Simons; 1S77, ^- ^- ^^ Manchester and Maple streets. There were 

Keniston; 1878, Daniel R. Prescott ; 1879-80, evidences of a terrible struggle. Parker's throat 

H. W. Longa; 1881-82, A. D. Stark; 1883-84- was cut, and a butcher knife and razor lay by his 

249 



250 



Wn^ LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELI). 



side. Flis pocketbook containing a large sum of 
money was taken. All signs indicated that two 
persons had been concerned in the murder. The 
town offered a reward of $500 and the state $1,000 
for the apprehension of the murderers, but no 
tangible clues were obtained until 1848, when Asa 
and Henry T. Wentworth, brothers, who formerly 
kept a tavern at Janesville, were arrested in Saco, 
Me., and charged with the murder. After a long 
examination, both were discharged. In May, 1850, 
they were re-arrested, together with Horace Went- 
worth of Lowell and one William C. Clark. They 



place. On Jan. 22 of that year, Dennis Shea, who 
lived in a block at 511 Elm street, struck his wife 
on the head with a flatiron, fracturing her skull, 
and causing her death two days later. Immediately 
after assaulting his wife Shea cut his throat with a 
razor and died in a few moments. The tragedy 
was caused by a family row. 

On March 17, 1872, John Burke and his wife 
became engaged in a drunken dispute in their 
house, corner of Elm and Park streets, during 
which he struck her on the head with a piece of 
cordwood, causing her death soon after. Burke 





ELM STREET, MANCHESTER. — LOOKING NORTH. 



were ably defended by Gen. Franklin Pierce and 
other noted counsel, and after a searching examina- 
tion, Horace Wentworth and Clark were dis- 
charged, and the two brothers held in $5,000 bonds 
for trial. The prosecution soon after decided that 
the evidence was not strong enough to warrant 
holding them, consequentlv the grand jury found 
no bill, the Wentworths were discharged, and the 
slayers of Jonas L. Parker remain unknown to 
this day. 

The city was remarkably free from tragedies 
from this time until 1872, when two murders took 



was tried at the court session in Amherst, found 
guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, and 
sentenced to fourteen vears in state prison. 

Aug. 30, 1880, a tragedy occurred in a house 
on Belmont street. East Manchester. Edgar F. 
Colburn, a voung married carpenter, and William 
E. Beauregard, aged seventeen, were indulging in 
friendlv sports, playing tramp and chasing each 
other around the house. In a thoughtless moment 
Colburn grabbed an old musket supposed to be 
unloaded, aimed it directly at Beauregard's throat, 
and fired. The gun was loaded and the victim 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



251 



fell dead in his tracks. Colburn was indicted for 
manslau£Thter in the second deoree, recommended 
to the mercy of the court, and sentenced to one 
year in state prison. 

Sept. 30, 1880, Pierre Edward Powers, aged 
eighteen, Hung a ragged-edged, broken bottle at 
John Blanchard, aged twenty-three, which resulted 
in the hitter's death in twenty minutes. Powers 
and some companions jostled against Blanchard, 
who pushed Powers down. They had some words, 
a bottle in Powers's pocket broke and neck was 
hurled at Blanchard, striking him in the jugular 
vein. Powers was at once arrested, held for man- 
slaughter, and sentenced to state prison for iive years. 

Fifteen 3-ears elapsed before the fair fame of 
Manchester was again blotted bv a crime in which 
a life was lost in consequence. In the evening of 



March 



1895, a drunken row took place at 34 



Middle street between James, commtmlv called 
"Slasher" Welch, and John O'Brien, a Milford 
man. Both visited the house of Welch's brother- 
in-law, where the tragedv occurred, and in the 
melee Welch threw O'Brien down stairs, jumped 
upon his bodv, fractured his skull, and inflicted 
injuries from which he died during the night. 
Welch was indicted for murder, but pleaded guilty 
of manslausfhter in the second deorree, and was 
sentenced, May 23, to eight years in state prison. 
The most cold-blooded tragedy since the 
famous Parker murder was enacted in the watch 
room of the police station at 1 1 o'clock in the 
night of May 21, 1S95, when ex-Patrolman Fred A. 
Stockwell deliberately fired five shots at Sergeant 
Henry McAllister of the police force, three bullets 
hitting him and causing death in a few seconds. 
Stockwell had resigned from the force a week 
previously rather than suffer an investigation for 
neglect of duty, and had been drinking heavily and 
making threats against Sergeant McAllister, whom 
he suspected of reporting him for his misde- 
meanors. Stockwell had also been mixed up with 
several women, claiming that he was unmarried, 
and he charged McAllister with informing his 
wife concerning his infidelities. He had openly 
threatened, in the presence of police officers, to 
take the sergeant's life, but little attention was 
paid to him. His threats were regarded as the 
freaks of a high temper and not considered as 



serious. After the murder, Stockwell coolly said 
he was glad of it. He is now confined in the 
count}^ jail awaiting trial. The line of his defence 
will be on the ground of insanity. The murderer 
is twenty-seven years old. 



-VAZ-ILLIAM T. MORSE was born in Chester 
' ' Aug. 14, 1857. He received his education 
in that town, graduating at Chester Academy 
under Prof. Jacob T. Choate. He then taught 
school two years in Belmont, resigning his position 




WILLIAM T. MORSE. 

to accept a clerkship in C. S. Wilcomb & Son's 
store in Chester. In November, 1885, he married 
Miss Mary Little Currier, a granddaughter of 
David Dustin of North Salem. She is the sixth 
in direct descent from the noted Hannah Dustin. 
They have two children, Marian Ida, born Novem- 
ber, 1886, and Louis William, born November, 
1889. In May, 1889, Mr. Morse became literary 
editor of the Derry News, for which paper he had 
worked as general agent and correspondent from 
its inception. In the spring of 1S89 he built a 
residence on Mt. Washington, near Derry Depot, 
where he and his familv still li\'e. 



252 



WILLBT'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



MANCHESTER TOWN HOUSE OF 1841. Thev had been gone from the building scarcely an 

— This building, begun in 1841 and com- hour when smoke was seen coming from the attic 

pleted the following year at an expense of $17,000 windows and an alarm of fire was sounded. The 

including the cost of the lot, was a brick structure day was hot and dry, and the building was 

with stone trimmings. Its dimensions were ninety destroyed within an hour. It was surmised that 

feet on Elm and sixty feet on Market street. It the flashing powder, communicating with shavings 

was the second building used for town business, beneath the single floor of the attic, had smould- 

the previous one being an old structure at East ered there until the heat forced the fire into an 

Manchester, altered from a meeting-house and open and rapid llame. The walls being of brick 

subsequently changed to a dwelling, which is still and the roof slated, the first crash was caused by 

to be seen near the cemetery in that locality. The the falling of the tower, with the bell, clock, and 

site originally selected for the town house was at gilt -eagle, the whole coming down at the same 

the northwest corner of Merrimack common, but instant, straight into the cellar. The present 

a change was afterward made to Elm and Market building was begun soon after, and completed in 

streets, as being more central for town business. 1846. It has done good service for forty-nine 
The postoffice was 



located in the south- 
east corner of the 
building ; three stores 
and a printing office 
were also on this floor, 
with the main en- 
trance and vestibule 
on Elm street as now 
changed in the pres- 
ent building. On the 
second floor were two 
law offices and the 
town clerk's office, 
the remaining space 




years. The view of 
the old town house, 
herewith presented, 
was engraved by 
H. W. derrick in 
1844 from a sketch 
made in the autumn 
of 1843. 



OLD TOWN HOUSE, MANCHESTER. 



IN the original char- 
t e r granted i n 
June, 1722, to the 
town of Londonderry 
in the name of George 
III. by Gov. Samuel 
Shute and the coun- 
cil was a provision 
requiring the " men 



being taken up by a 
fine hall sixty-three by 
seventy feet. The 

armory of the Stark Guards was in the attic. On and inhabitants to render and pay for the same, to 

the land north of the building, where the Patten us, our successors, or to such officer or officers as 

block now stands, was a flourishing vegetable gar- shall be appointed to receive the same, the annual 

den in which pole beans, corn, and cucuml)ers (juit-rent or acknowledgement of one peck of 

were cultivated with profit to the owner. potatoes, on the first day of October, yearly, for- 

This old town house, a most substantial struc- ever." The charter did not say what was to be 

ture, had an existence of only about three years, done with the potatoes, but for several years they 

for it was destroyed by fire in August, 1844. The were turned over to Gov. Shute's representatives, 

day before the fire the military company occupying Finally the payment was neglected, and there are 

the attic had been on parade, and two of the now many bushels of potatoes due, according to 

younger members were detailed to clean the mus- the charter, from the town to some one. In 1863 

kets and store the remaining ammunition. About some wag created a small panic bv starting the 

the noon hour the boys, in playing with some of rumor that in consequence of its long neglect 

the cartridges, marked figures on the floor with a the town was to be deprived of its chartei The 

train of powder and flashed them with matches, panic, however, was of short duration. 



WEST MANCHESTER IN 1768 



BY REV. JESSE G. McMURPHY. 



''PHE old Indian trails from camping grounds tribes, and others stood in friendly relations that 

■I to fishing stands, and from tribal villages to permitted them to settle upon waste or unoccu- 

distant hunting regions, graduallv became the pied lands (|uite apart from the laid out lands. 

white man's lines of communication. After the Consequently the records of towns and counties 

period of foot travel the same paths, with slight abound in references to older settlers whose names 

changes, were used for more frequent saddlebag do not appear in any charter. Some of these prior 

traffic, and eventuallv were laid out as highways, settlers were expelled forcibly, but generally a 

two or four rods wide, and fenced for stages and compromise was resorted to and the occupant 

other vehicles. From the earliest settlement of allowed to hold for life. 

white people on the Massachusetts Bay, almost The old Indian trail from the coast through 

exactly a hundred ^ears before the occupation of Haverhill and Nutfield by Amoskeag Falls into 

Nutfield, it was known that well defined paths led the Connecticut valley was familiar to the colonists 

from the coast inland toward the northwest, before the charter of Londonderry was issued. 

There were famous sites for fishing along the The Amoskeag path became an established and 

Merrimack river, and several tribes of Indians laid out highway as soon as the land along its 

lived at intervals throughout the course of this course was allotted under the charter. The 

abundant storehouse of nature. Beyond, and inhabitants of the town learned from the Indians 

farther toward the setting sun, were immense of the abundance of fish at a place upon the Mer- 

tracts of country abounding in deer, moose, and rimack river known as Amoskeag Falls, and so 

buffalo. With the increasing population of the important became the privilege of fishing in that 

Massachusetts Bay colony and the destruction of vicinity that the shores of the river were parcelled 

game in the forests and fish in the streams, the and sold for stands, designated by certain names 

Indians moved farther from the coast, but their in some way characteristic. The following tran- 

trails were followed closely by the aggressive script of such a document may be of interest to 

settlers. The Indian villages became trading posts the reader: 

and for some indefinite period presented the sin- 

, ri- -ii'^iiiiT Know all men by these presents that I Alexander Mac- 

gular appearance oi being inhabited bv both , ^ ,,,.,,. , ■ , ^ tt i ■ 

, ^ ' . murpliy of W illiamsburg in the county of Hampshire and com- 

Indians ami white people. The old Indians, monwealth of" the Massachusetts, Gentleman, for and in con- 
incapable of earning a subsistence by hunting or sideration of the sum of five pounds lawful money to me in hand 
fishing, preferred to trust to the clemencv and before the delivery hereof well and truly paid by Archibald Mac- 
favor of the white population rather than to go '""'Pliy of Londonderry in the county of Rockingham in the 

r ^, -1 1 ■ 1 .1 • . -1 1 111 -1 .State of New Ham|)shire, Esq., the receipt whereof I do hereby 

larther inland witii their trilies and probably perish , , , , . ,, ., , ,, , , 

' - ' acknowledge, have given granted bargained and sold and by 

of starvation and neglect. Many of the white these presents do fufly, freely and absolutely give grant, bargain, 

men of adventurous habits became allied with the sell and convey and confirm unto him the said Archibald Mac- 

253 



^54 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



murphy his heirs and assigns forever, all my right, title, interest, 
claim, challenge or demand which 1 have in the fishing place in 
Amoskeag Falls in Merrimack river, hereafter mentioned (viz) 
one fourth part of a place being between a place called the 
Pulpit and Sullivan's point on the easterly branch of the said 
river, and also one sixth part of a fishing place on the westerly 
branch of said river commonly called the Puppy Trap or Eel 
place, said fishing places are on an island in said falls. To have 
and to hold the said interest in said fishing places and all appur- 
tenances thereto belonging to him the said Archibald Macmur- 
phy his heirs and assigns to his and their proper use and 
improvement forever. In witness whereof I have hereunto set 
my hand and seal this 29"' day of .September A. I). 1787. 




LOCATION OF OLD FERRIES AND HIGHWAYS. 

N. B. Before signing the words (in Amoskeag Falls in Merri- 
mack river) in one place and in another place the word (place) 
and in another place the words this and) were interlined. 

Alexander Macmurphy. 

Signed sealed and delivered in presence of Elizabeth Patten 
Matthew Patten. 

Hillsborough Ss. Bedford September 29"' 1787. Alexan- 
der Macmurphy above named personally appeared and acknowl- 
edged the above instrument to be his free act and deed. 

Before Matthew Patten, Justice Peace. 



The positions of these fishino^ places are quite 
clearly defined in the deed. The grantor had 
occupied land along the shores from a much 
earlier date. He granted lands to Capt. John 
Stark in 1760 and to Isaac Godfrey in the vear 
I 768, the date of Matthew Patten's survev. 

Referring to the map copied from the plan 
made by Matthew Patten, April 21, 176S, it will 
be noticed that the fishing places were located 
immediately above the site of Capt. John Stark's 
sawmill, and that the road passing south by the 
sawmill was the old river road coming in from 
Hooksett, following the course of the river about 
the line of the Boston tS: Maine railroad to the site 
of the old ferryman's house not far from the 
station. It will be noted that this ferry of God- 
frey's was on the line of the highways that led 
from Chester and Londonderry to Goffstown by 
the falls. South of the ferry the river road turned 
eastward from the river and lost the older name in 
being called the Nutt road. 

The Stark mills occupy the appro.ximate site 
of Capt. John Stark's sawmill and lumber yard. 
The Jefferson mills are between the house of 
Robert Boyes and the river. On the west side of 
the river where only one house was marked in the 
]ilan, the laid-out highway of 1768 is easily recog- 
nized as the present Main street of West Man- 
chester. The line between Bedford and Goffs- 
town which came to the river then has ceased to 
e.xist, the adjoining parts being absorbed in the 
city, but it serves to locate the position of the old 
gristmill on the opposite side of the river and the 
miller's house. Abraham Merrill's ferry formerly 
connected Derryfield and Bedford by a shorter 
route that became convenient and necessary with 
the growth of Bedford, being superseded eventually 
by a bridge. 

Whatever traditions people may ha\'e con- 
cerning the location of any of these old sites, the 
reader is advised to make use of scale and compass 
and ascertain e.xact relations rather than accept 
the authority of mere reports. The author of this 
plan of 1768 was a resident of Bedford and his 
descendants have given names to buildings in 
Manchester. 

Matthew Patten was a justice of the peace 
and surveyor, widely known for his interest in 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



-^S'i 



public niTairs, liis hospitalitv, and his cultivation of 
literary tastes in the preservation of facts coming 
under his observation from day to day in the form 
of a diary that was published after his decease. 
He was born May 19, 1719, and died in Bedford 
Aug. 27, 1795. He was married to Elizabeth Mac- 
Murphy of Londonderry, July 16, 1750. She was 
a daughter of Squire John MacMurphy and was 
born Sept. 3, 1728. There were born to this mar- 
riage the following ten children whose histories 
are important in Bedford and adjoining towns : 
Susanna, who married Thomas Taggart : John, 
unmarried, killed in Canada war; James, killed in 
Indian war in Ohio; Betsey, married Hugh Tol- 
ford, her cousin; Robert, married Jane Shirley; 
David, unmarried; Mary, unmarried; Alexander, 



married Lydia Atwood ; Jane, unmarried; Sarah, 
unmarried. 

When old Squire John MacMurphy of Lon- 
donderry died in 1755 he left a will disposing of 
much property, both real and personal, besides that 
settled upon his heirs during his life. Among 
other items of the will are the following two : 
" My will is that my beloved son Alexander Mac- 
Murphy shall have twenty-five pounds new tenor 
paid him out of my estate in one year's time after 
my decease and apples sufficient to make five 
barrels of cider yearly and every year for the space 
of five years, and to my son-in-law Matthew Patten 
the same quantity of apples for the aforesaid time 
of five years after my decease and liberty to make 
each of them their apples into cider at my press." 




r^ 



H 



r.:."! 





LADIES PARLOKj I. O. O. F. HALL, DERRY DEPOT. 



256 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



FRED LEONARD WALLACE, son of 
Frederick and Margaret Ann (French) Wal- 
lace, was born Jan. 23, 1839, in that part of Man- 
chester known as Piscataquog, then a portion of 
Bedford. His father, one of the pioneers of the 
city of Manchester, was employed in many im- 
portant capacities for the great manufacturing- 
corporations in their early years. He was also 
prominent in politics, being a member of the 
board of aldermen in 1847. The son attended the 
city schools in his boyhood, and at the age of six- 



"'%■< 





city owning the hearse and other property pertain- 
ing to the business. In company with Moses O. 
Pearson, Mr. Wallace bouo:ht out Mr. Fisher in 
1872, and the firm of Pearson & Wallace began its 
successful career. Upon Mr. Pearson's death, 
Hon. Alfred G. I'airbanks became a partner, and 
the firm name was changed to F. L. Wallace & Co., 
its present style. Mr. Wallace has always been a 
progressive man, seeking to develop the possibili- 
ties of his calling. Fitted by nature for its deli- 
cate and difficult duties, that require for their 
proper fulfilment not only kindness but tact, he 
has been a friend and comforter in many a be- 
reaved home, while he has also introduced into the 
undertaking art many improvements and practices 
that have become universal among undertakers. 
In a word, he has kept Manchester ahead of sister 
cities in all that ])ertains to his profession. Mr. 
Wallace was married, in 1861, to Josephine, 
daughter of Joel Fife of Pembroke, and four chil- 
dren — Fred A., Lulu B., George P., and Cyrus W. 
— have been added to the family, all of whom are 
living except the last, who died at the age of four 
years and six months. Mrs. Wallace died in 1871, 
and in 1875 Mr. W^xllace married Sarah E. White 
of Manchester, daughter of Capt. William W^hite 
of Portsmouth. He is a member of the First 
Congregational church, of Agawam Tribe of Red 
Men, and the Royal Society of Good Fellows, and 
is, withal, one of the most popular and progres- 
sive men of the Oueen Citv. 



FRED L. WALLACE. 



teen went to work in David McColley's bookstore, 
one of the well-known institutions of the day. 
Later he was appointed assistant postmaster under 
David J. Clark, brother of Hon. Daniel Clark, and 
during his term of office, from 1861 to 1865, the 
system of free delivery was established in Man- 
chester. In 1869 Mr. Wallace entered the service 
of Charles S. Fisher, the city undertaker, who at 
the time was the only one in that business within 
a circuit of twenty miles. The city undertaker 
was then annually appointed by the board of alder- 
men as one of the regular municipal officers, the 



A RELIC of the stone garrison built in Nut- 
field in 1723 is to be found in the under- 
])inning of the house owned by Joseph Gregg in 
Derry Village. On one of the stones constituting 
the foundation of the house were engraved a 
vine and an hourglass, and between them was : 
" 17. G. 23." Until within a few years the inscrip- 
tion was plainly visible, although the emblems — 
whatever thev may have signified — have long 
since been effaced. The letter and figures indicate 
the initial of the builder's name, Capt. James 
Gregg, and the year of building. The stone was 
originally placed over the doorway of the stone 



garrison. 



HON. PERSON C. CHENEY. 



HON. PERSON C. CHENEY was born in elected by popular vote as a member of the rail- 
Holderness (now Ashland), N. H., Feb. 25, road commission for three years, and in the fall of 
1828, the sixth child of Moses and Abigail (Mor- 1866 he removed to Manchester to enter the waste 
rison) Cheney, his father being one of the pioneers and railroad supply business, at the same time 
in the manufacture of paper in New Hampshire, engaging in the manufacture of paper at Goffs- 
In 1835 the family removed to Peterboro, where town, under the firm name of Cheney & Thorpe, 
the subject of this the business office 

sketch resided until 1 1 being located in Man- 

1866, receiving his Chester. He is now 

education in the com- at the head of the 

m o n s c h o o 1 s a n d w e 1 1 - k n o w n P. C. 

academy there, at the Jjj^^lF~ ~ Cheney Paper Com- 

Hancock Literarv ^ftK/KKL^ . . pany. Shortly after 

and Scientific Insti- j i*- " coming to Manches- 

tution, and at the | ter he became prom- 

Parsonsfield, Me., ^mr' '^ inent in the Repub- 

Academy. Follow- . lican party and was 

ing the business of ^^ elected mayor in 

his father, that of a 1871, one of the 

paper manufacturer, marked features of 

he became, in 1853, his successful admin- 

a member of the firm v istration being the 

of Cheney, Hadley ' introduction of the 

& Gowing, subse- t^^m"'"''''' """^frhiii1ir*'i^" fire-alarm telecrraph 

quently purchasing ^^^^^^^^K' .wRKw' ^ system. He declined 

his partners' interest. ll^^l^^^^^B ^^Hflf a renomination, but 

In 1853-54 he was '^^»^^^^^^R<- "^ was chosen governor 

actively engaged in i-^^^^^^w ''^ '"^"S ^"d 1876, 

politics, beinga mem- ^biHJF^ wresting the state 

ber of the state Icgis- ^^ t ■ from the democratic 

lature from Peter- party. In 1872 he 

boro. Entering the was elected a trustee 

armv in 1862, he was of Bates College, 

appointed quarter- and founded a 

master in the Thir- hon. person c. cheney. scholarship in that 

teenth New Hamp- institution. At the 

shire Volunteers, commanded by Col. A. F. close of his gubernatorial service, Dartmouth 
Stevens. In Januarv, 1863, while at Falmouth, College conferred upon him the degree of A. M. 
before Fredericksburg, he was taken so seriously Gov. Currier appointed him United States senator 
ill that his life was despaired of, and by command in the fall of 1886, to fill out part of Senator 
of the surgeons was sent on a stretcher to Wash- Austin F. Pike's unexpired term, and in 1888 he 
ington, where he was sick for three months. His was one of the delegates at large to the Republi- 
weak physical condition necessitating his resigna- can national convention. Chosen a member of 
tion, he manifested that patriotism which is one of the Repul)lican national committee to succeed 
the ruling traits of his character bv sending a Hon. E. H. Rollins, he was re-elected in 1892, and 
substitute to take his place. In 1864 he was is still in that position. In December, 1892, 
24 257 



2S8 



WTLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



President Harrison appointed him envoy extraor- 
dinary and minister plenipotentiary to Switzerland, 
at which post he remained until June 29, 1893. 
Mr. Cheney was one of the directors of the Peter- 
boro bank when he came to Manchester, and has 
been president of the Peoples Savings bank of 
Manchester since its organization. He is a mem- 
ber of Altemont Lodge, F. and A. M.; of Peter- 
boro Chapter No. 12, R. A. M. ; of Peterboro 
Lodge No. 15, I. O. O. F. ; of Louis Bell Post, 
G. A. R. ; of the Massachusetts Loyal Legion, and 
of the Army of the Potomac. Although he has 
always been a liberal contributor to many religious 
organizations, his membership is with the Unitarian 
society. May 22, 1850, Mr. Cheney married Miss 
S. Annie Moore, daughter of Samuel Morrison 
Moore of Bronson, Mich. She died Jan. 7, 1858, 
leaving no children, and June 29, 1859, he married 
Mrs. Sarah White Keith, daughter of Jonathan 
and Sarah (Goss) White of Lowell, Mass. One 
child has been born to them, Agnes Annie, now 
the wife of Charles H. Fish, agent of the Cocheco 
Manufacturing Company of Dover. Mrs. Cheney 
is probablv better known than any other woman 
in New Hampshire, having for a long time been a 
prominent figure in the social events of state and 
nation. She possesses great dignity of bearing, 
has been a leader in Manchester society for years, 
and both her public and her private charities are 
innumerable, she having been for several years 
president t)f the Woman's Aid and Relief Society of 
Manchester. Her distinguished husband is every- 
where recognized as one of nature's noblemen, 
genial and social in his intercourse, a man of large 
charities and a loval friend. 



HON. JAMES FRANKLIN BRIGGS was 
born in Bury, Lancashire, England, Oct. 23, 
1827, son of John and Nancy (Franklin) Briggs. 
When he was fourteen months old his parents 
took passage in an emigrant ship for America, and 
after a rough vovage of seven weeks landed in 
Boston, March 4, 1S29. His father found em- 
ployment in a woolen factorv at Andovcr, Mass., 
and later at Saugus and Amesbury, until the fall 
of 1836, when he, with two brothers, bought a 
small woolen factory in Holderness (now Ashland), 



N. H. At the age of nine James F. had begun 
work with his father, the family being in such cir- 
cumstances as to prevent his obtaining much 
schooling. At fourteen he was able to attend an 
academy at Newbury, Vt., and afterwards at 
Tilton, N. H., working in the factory part of the 
time to pay his expenses. He pursued his studies 
in this way until 1848, when he arranged to study 
law with Hon. W. C. Thompson of Plymouth. 
But that year his father died, leaving eight chil- 
dren, six of whom were vounger than James. He 
was then obliged to go to work again to assist his 
mother, but borrowed books and studied law during 
his spare time with Hon. Joseph Burrows of Ash- 
land. The next year the family removed to 
Fisherville (now Concord) and he succeeded in 
completing his law studies with Hon. Nehemiah 
Butler and was admitted to the bar in 185 1. He 
married, in 1850, Roxannah, daughter of Obadiah 
and Eliza Smith of New Hampton. They had 
three children : Frank O., educated at West Point 
and served four vears in the army, but now 
engaged in manufacturing in Trenton, N. J. ; 
Mary F., wife of D. Dudley Felton of Manchester, 
and Sarah F., married George E. Tewksbury, 
and died reccntlv. Mr. Briggs practiced at Hills- 
borough Bridge until 1871. He was a member of 
the legislature from that town in 1856-57 and in 
1858, being a Democrat until the Civil War broke 
out, when he changed his views and ever after 
afiiliated with the Republican ])artv. When the 
Eleventh Regiment was organized he was a[)- 
pointed quartermaster on the staff of Col. Walter 
Harriman, and served through the battle of 
Fredericksburg, the military operations in Ken- 
tuckv, and in the Mississippi River expeditions 
which resulted in the capture of A^icksburg. 
After a year's service he was prostrated by the 
malaria of southern swamps and was obliged to 
resign and return to Hillsborough. In 1871 he 
removed to Manchester and formed a law partner- 
ship with Henry H. Hu|e, which continued about 
fifteen vears. He served as citv solicitor one vear, 
and in 1874 was elected to the legislature from 
Ward 3. In 1876 he was elected state senator 
and the same year was a member of the constitu- 
tional convention. His abilitv as a servant of the 
people attracted attention and admiration, and in 



WlLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



2!9 



1877 he was nominated as a candidate for congress 
and elected by a large majority. In 1878 and i<S79 
he was re-elected to the national house. In the 
forty-fifth congress he served as a member of the 
committee on patents, in the forty-sixth on naval 
affairs, and in the forty-seventh he was chairman 
of the committee on war expenditures and a mem- 
ber of the committees on judiciarv and reform in 
the civil service. In congress he was a faithful 
and hard working member, tireless in his efforts 
to serve his constituents and always readv to do a 
favor for the veteran soldiers. He was a member 
of the constitutional convention of 1889. He is 
still engaged in law practice, having one of the 
largest legal patronages in the city. Mr. Briggs is 
a Unitarian, a member of Hillsborough Lodge of 
Masons, of Wood's Chapter, and of Trinity 
Commandery. 



the New Hampshire Medical society, of Lafayette 
Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Mount Horeb Royal 
Arch Chapter, Adonnam Council, Wildey Lodge, 



/^LARENCE MONROE DODGE, M. D., 

^-^ was born in New Boston, May 28, 1847. 
He is the son of James Monroe and Lucy Jane 
(Philbrick) Dodge. His father died on his way to 
California in 1849. He attended the public 
schools of his native town and Goffstown. In 
order to give him better educational advantages, 
his mother removed to Mont Vernon, where he 
attended the public schools and Appleton Academy 
(now McCallum Institute). They afterward re- 
moved to Nashua, where, on Nov. 20, 1872, he 
married Estella G., daughter of Orin and Maria M. 
Rawson of that city. The issue of their union 
was one child, Clara Linda, born Dec. 6, 1874, 
died July i, 1879. Dr. Dodge began the study of 
medicine with Dr. Josiah G. Graves of Nashua in 
1872. Graduating from the University of New 
York in February, 1877, he immediately began the 
practice of medicine at Amherst, remaining there 
for two years, and then removing to Manchester, 
where he has since remained, leading a very busy 
life except for about a year of much needed rest, 
spent in travel. Being of a retiring disposition, 
he has never sought or even been willing to accept 
any public emoluments, although often in\ited. 
He takes a lively interest in the development and 
prosperity of the city. Dr. Dodge is a member of 




CLARENCE M. DODGE, M. D. 

I. O. O. F., Wonalancet Encampment, Grand 
Canton Ridgely, Merrimack Lodge, K. of P., and 
Passaconaway Tribe of Red Men. He is a member 
of Grace Episcopal church. 



T^HE LONGEST COURTSHIP on the rec- 
' ords of Nutfield is that of Gabriel Barr anil 
Rachel Wilson, who " kept company " forty years 
and finally died unmarried. Love laughs at lock- 
smiths, but not at religious differences. Gabriel 
belonged to Rev. William Davidson's parish, and 
his sweetheart to Rev. Mr. McGregor's, and they 
could not agree which of the two good Presby- 
terian churches they should attend, the feud 
between the two parishes being extremely bitter. 
Tlie Scotch blood that ran in the veins of the 
lovers made it impossible for either to yield, and 
hence the long courtship, ended only by death. 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, MANCHESTER. 



ON the first page of the old church records, Daniel Gooden first deacon. Jan. 4, 1837, with 
under date of July 26, 1835, is the following: the godspeed of the mother church, they became 
" The Baptist church in Goffstown voted this day an independent body and were publicly recognized 
to acknowledge us whose names arc here enrolled, by a council of neighlionng churches. The place 
the Amoskeag branch of the Goffstown church, of meeting was soon after changed to the east side 
authorizing us to engage our minister and reward of the river, and in 1840 a commodious brick 

edifice was erected on the corner of Manchester 
and Chestnut streets. At a meeting held Sept. 22, 
1840, it was voted " that this church shall hereafter 
be known as the First Baptist church in Man- 
chester." Jul)^ 8, 1870, the church edifice was 
burned. Steps were at once taken to rebuild, 
resulting in the erection of the present edifice on 
the corner of Union and Concord streets, costing 
about $80,000, which was dedicated April 30, 1873. 
In October, 1845, letters were granted to thirty- 
five persons to form the Merrimack-Street Baptist 
church of Manchester. Jan 25, 1855, a society 
was organized in connection with the church to 
conduct its financial interests, and Otis Barton 
was chosen first president; Joseph B. Clark, clerk; 
Ebenezer Clark, treasurer; Joseph E. Bennett, 
Orisen Hardy, George A. Barnes, A. D. Burgess, 
Peter S. Brown, C. W. Baldwin, Charles Brown, 
directors. Rev. John Peacock served the church 
only ten months after it became an independent 
organization. He was succeeded by Rev. Ephraim 
Bailey, who ministered three years and five months. 
Rev. John Upham followed, remaining one year. 
Rev. Benjamin Brierly was pastor two years and 
six months. Rev. Thomas O. Lincoln remained 
four years ; Rev. Isaac Sawyer, three years and 
seven months ; Rev. B. F. Hedden, two years ; 
Rev. George Pierce, eight years and six months ; 
Rev. N. C. Mallory, four years and seven months ; 
Rev. A. C. Graves, D. D., five years and nine 
months; Rev. William H. Leavett, five years; 
Rev. C. H. Kimball, three years and nine months. 
'I'he present pastor. Rev. W. C. McAllester, D. D., 
began his labors June 19, 1887. The church has 




FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, MANCHESTER. 



him, to receive members and dismiss them, and 
to enjoy the communion, to wit: Elder John 

Peacock, Daniel Gooden, Mary R. Peacock, John sent out five young men into the ministry and 

Stevens, Mrs. Stevens, Hopy Tewksbury, Betsy several persons to engage in home and foreign 

Tewksbury, Elizabeth Mclntyre, Zilpah Guild, missionary work. In February, 1887, sixty-eight 

Abigail Rider," — ten in all. For a year and a half persons were granted letters to form the Taber- 

services were held in various places, often in private nacle Baptist church of the city, and in October, 

houses, Rev. John Peacock serving as pastor and 1891. with the hearty consent of the mother 

260 



WILLET'S BOOK OF Nl^TFTELD. 



church, fiftv-seven persons, fruits of a Swedish 
mission which had worshipped in the vestries for 
three years, were dismissed to form tlic First 
Swedish church in Manchester, the first church of 
this nationahtv in New Hampshire. The present 
church membership is 448. The church is entirely 
free from debt, has a flourishinsj,' Sunchiv school 
under the superintendency of J. Trask Plumer, is 
interested in many missionary enterprises, and 
ranks as a leading church in the Baptist denom- 
ination in New England. 

Rev. William C. McAllester, D. D., pastor of 
the First Baptist church, was born in Essex 
county, N. Y., June 19, 1849, son of Edwin and 
Louisa B. McAllester of Keeseville, N. Y. His 
ancestors are traced back to Alister Whor, Lord 
of the Isles and Kintyre in 1284, who opposed the 
claim of Robert Bruce to the Scottish throne and 
who died a prisoner in the castle of Dundonald. 
On the overthrow of that dynasty in the reign of 
James I\^ the Macallisters became an independent 
clan. Alexander Macallister of Loup was a loyal 
subject of King James and served in the royal 
army in Ireland against William of Orange. The 
McAllisters who settled in America came from 
Argylshire, Scotland, and three families of that 
name settled in New Hampshire. Robert Mc- 
Allister removed from New Bcjston to Antrim 
in \ 793, and was a carpenter, school teacher, and 
farmer. He died in Newbury, Vt., in 1862. Jona- 
than McAllister married Charity Chatman of 
Haverhill, and died in Willsborough, N. \'., in 
1862. His son was Edwin, father of Rev. W. C. 
McAllester, who is also a lineal descendant of 
Col. William Prescott of Bunker Hill fame. He 
studied at Madison University (now Colgate) at 
Hamilton, N. Y., in the class of '75, and received 
the honorary degree of M. A. in 1883 from that 
institution. He settled as pastor of a Baptist 
church in Plattsburgh, N. Y., in 1878 and remained 
till 1887, when he accepted a call from the First 
Baptist church of Manchester. While pastor at 
Moriah, N. Y., his first settlement, he built a new 
church, at Plattsburgh he was very successful in 
building a new church edifice and also raised funds 
to buy a parsonage for the society. Since coming 
to Manchester he has succeeded in paying off a 
debt, mortgage and floating, of over $8,000 and 



has added nearly 250 members to the church. He 
has been settled longer with the First church in 
Manchester than any pastor except one. No 
sensational features are introduced into Dr. Mc- 
Allester's pulpit, so often the case with so-called 
popular clergymen of the day. His sermons show 
careful study, are delivered in a scholarly and 
dignified, yet pleasing style, and reflect the best 
thoughts of a studious and thoroughly Chris- 
tian mind. His language is incisive, his points 
clearly made, and his sermons interesting. His 
church, since he became pastor, has grown to be 



'•W 





RRV. W. C. MCALLESTER, D. D. 

one of the largest and most influential in the state. 
The degree of D. D. was bestowed on him in 
1895 by Olivet College, Mich. He married Nov. 
20, 1873, Angela M. Brownson of Elizabethtown, 
N. \'. They have three children : Lillian A. 
aged twenty, student at Vassar College, class of 
1896; Ralph W., aged seventeen, just entering 
Harvard College, and Grace E., aged nine. Dr. 
McAllester is a forceful writer and has been for 
twenty years a valued correspondent of the Watch- 
man of Boston, and Examiner and Independent 
of New York, and an occasional writer for a large 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF I^UTFIELl:). 



number of periodicals. He is a member of the 
Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity. A 
highly prized adornment of the walls of his library 
is a coat-of-arms of the original MacAlister family 
of Scotland. It is safe to say that no clergyman 
was ever settled in Manchester who was more 
highly esteemed as a preacher, citizen, or neighbor 
than Rev. W. C. McAllester. 



WILLIAM H. ELLIOTT, son of John Wil- 
liams and Rebecca (Hartshorn) Elliott, 
was born in Londonderry Sept. 5, 182 1, both his 
parents being natives of New Hampshire. Hav- 
ing received his education in the public schools, 
he learned the watch business at an earlv ao-e, and 



^V 



-'^.-^ 




made any pretence to large glass windows, the 
panes, 32 bv 46 inches, being regarded as un- 
usually fine. There was no building at all on the 
west side of the street. Mr. Elliott raised his first 
sign in September, 1840, and his name has been 
continuously up on Elm street for more than fifty- 
five years. His portrait accompanying this sketch 
was taken in his seventy-fifth year, and he is still 
hale and hearty. For many years, in addition to 
his business as jeweler and optician, he has been 
engaged in the sale of pianos, organs and musical 
goods, in which he has built up an extensive trade. 
Mr. Elliott was married in 1842 to Miss Serena F. 
Cilley of Flopkinton, and their golden wedding 
was celebrated in 1892. Their union has been 
blessed by eight children, three of whom now sur- 
vive: Dr. George H. Elliott of New \'ork city; 
Rev. Charles F. Elliott, a Unitarian clergyman of 
Chicago, and Ida F., married to Arthur B. Smith 
of Haverhill, Mass. There are seven grandchil- 
dren and one great-grandchild. In 1845 Mr. 
Elliott built the house at the corner of Concord 
and Walnut streets, at that time the finest private 
residence in the village, and quite modern even 
now. He occupied this house for twenty years, 
and in 1870 he built a residence at the corner of 
Myrtle and Maple streets, which at the time of its 
erection was also the finest in the citv, and the 
first in which plate glass windows were used. He 
also built the twenty-tenement block at the corner 
of Pearl and Chestnut streets. Mr. Elliott has 
never had political aspirations. He attended the 
Universalist church for more than twenty years, 
and was for a long time president of the society 
and superintendent of the Sunday school. He is 
a member of Washington Lodge, of Mount Horeb 
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and of Trinity Com- 
mandery. Knights Templar. 



WILLIAM H. ELLIOTT. 



soon became very proficient and skilful. Coming 
to Manchester in 1840, he opened a store on the 
premises which he now occupies, and in which he 
personally manages the largest business of the 
kind in the state. The building in which Mr. 
Elliott began his business career was at the time 
the best on the street, and the only one which 



THE SPECTACULAR in religion was not 
wholly neglected by those simple-minded old 
Scotch settlers of Nutfield. In 1741 the West 
Parish voted, "that the selectmen raise as much 
money as shall be sufficient to build a pulpit 
equivalent to Dunstable (now Nashua) pulpit." 
And they raised about $500. 



HON. ALPHEUS GAY. 



HON. ALPHEUS GA^^ son of Alpheus and president of the Citizens' Building and Loan 

Susannah (Scobev) Gay, was born in I'^ran- Association and viee president of the Bank of 

cestown May 14, 1819, his father being a native of New England, and has held other similar positions 

Dedham, Mass. Having acquired an education in of responsibility. Recently he was a member of 

the district schools and at the Francestown acad- the building committee of the new state normal 

emy, at the age of fifteen he began working at the school at Plymouth. Mr. Gay is past master of 



c a r p e n t e r's trade 
with his fat h e r. 
Three years later he 
taught school in 
New Boston, a n d 
followed teaching in 
that place and at 
Francestown for sev- 
eral winters. Com- 
ing to Manchester 
in 1 84 1, he worked 
at the carpenter's 
trade until 1850, 
when he became a 
contractor and 
builder. He has 
built many of the 
best and largest busi- 
ness blocks, public 
buildings and 
churches in the city, 
including the city 
library, court house, 
jail, industrial school, 
the High, Ash, Lin- 
coln, and Franklin- 
street schoolhouses, 
St. Joseph's cathe- 
dral, Grace church, 
and also many pri- 
vate residences. In 1886 he was appointed Lawyers were evidently making too much money 
superintendent of the construction of the govern- in Nutfield as long ago as 1778, for the follow- 
ment building, which was completed under his ing article is to be found in the town warrant for 
care and direction. Mr. Gay has been a life-long that year: "To see if the town will instruct 
Democrat, and has the high honor of being one of their representatives to use their intiuence that 
the few Democratic mayors of the city, having there be a revision of the table of fees. It ap- 
been elected to that position in 1875. He has pears to us that the attornies' fees should be cut 
been a member of the board of water commission- down at least one-half; they would not then be so 
ers since its organization in 1871, and for many fond of business, and pc<)i)le would find time to 
years has been president of the board. He is also breathe.' 

26; 




Lafayette lodge, A. 
F. and A. M., a mem- 
ber of Trinity com- 
mandery, K. T., and 
of the Mystic Shrine. 
He attends the Uni- 
tarian church, and is 
a member of the 
Granite State club. 
Nov. 25, 1845, Mr. 
Gay married Miss 
Theda G. Fisher, 
daughter of Richard 
and Pauline (Camp- 
bell) Fisher of Fran- 
cestown, who died 
Aug. I 7, 1S85. They 
had four children, 
two of whom sur- 
vive: Anna M., who 
resides with her 
father, and Frank A., 
of the engineering 
firm of Bartlett & 
Gav, Manchester. 



HON. ALPHEUS GAY. 



^ ' A mu 



A KING too 
ch money. — 



JOHN C. RAY. 



JOHN C. RAY, son of Aaron and Nancy Ray, Normal School at Plymouth, and has always taken 
was born in Hopkinton sixty-nine years ago, a deep interest in educational affairs. In 1893 
his parents removing a few years later to Dunbar- Mr. Ray was nominated by acclamation for coun- 
ton, where he grew to manhood and became one cillor by the second district Republican conven- 
of the leading citizens of that town. At the age tion, and was elected by a large majority. His 
of twenty-one he was elected to represent the town popularity extends far beyond the limits of the 

political party with 
ture, and was re- 
elected for the two 
foil o wing t e r m s. 
With one exception 
he was the youngest 
member of the house 
when he first took 
his seat, but he 
speedily became one 
of the most influen- 
tial members of that 
body. He was sub- 
sequently chairman 
of the board of select- 
men and superinten- 
dent of schools in 
Dunbarton. July 2, 
1874, he became 
superintendent of the 
State Industrial 
School in Manches- 
ter, and has filled the 
position so accept- 
ably that year by year 
he has been unani- 
mously re-elected, 
notwithstanding his 
oft repeated desire to 
retire from the posi- 
tion. Mr. Ray's dealings with the wayward youth i quarter pepper, 2s.; Cinnamon, is. 6d. ; Nutmeg, 
entrusted to his care have been characterized by is. 6d.; Wine 2 gallons, /i 4s.; i pound tea, 12s.; 
great kindness united with unflinching firmness, 1 2 pound shugar, 12s.; 2 quarts molasses, 2s. 6d. ; 
while his management of the farm and tiie indus- Brandy, 5s. 4d. ; i6| pounds butter, _^i los. ; jour- 
tries of the school has been successful in the ney to Newbury, £\ is. ; 2 bushels and a half of 
highest degree. Under his direction the school wheat, £\ los. ; Souse, Syder, Bread, salt, pork, 
has taken rank in the forefront of similar institu- trouble of house and Woman's labor, /,'i i6s." 
tions in this country. In 1881 -82 he was again a With all that allspice, pepper, cinnamon, and nut- 
member of the legislature, representing Ward 2. meg, and with the brandy, rum, cider, and wine, that 
Many years ago he was one of the trustees of the ordination must have been both spicy and spirited. 

264 




JOHN C. RAY. 



which he is identified, 
and he is held in high 
estimation by all his 
fellow citizens. In 
1857 Mr. Ray was 
married to Miss S. A. 
Humphreys, and two 
children have been 
added to the family. 

IT cost £,\ 2 IS. lod., 
or more than $60, 
to ordain Rev. Wil- 
liam Morrison, Feb. 
I 2, I 783, and set him 
apart "to the work 
of the gospel minis- 
trv, to take charge 
of the second parish 
in Londonderry." 
This is the itemized 
bill of ex]:)enses, as 
found in an old ac- 
count book : " Four 
gallen of Rum, £1 
1 6s. ; half a pound of 
allspice, 5 s.; 19 
pounds Chise, 19s.; 
3 pounds raisons, 4s. ; 



.1: 



OLIVER E. BRANCH. 



OLIVER E. BRANCH was born in Madi- of questions of law in both state and federal com ts. 
son, O., July 19, 1847. His paternal grand- In 1883 he moved to Weare to engage in literary 
father served seven years in Washington's com- work, soon becoming active in local politics and 
niand, from whom he received a "badge of merit" being elected to the legislature in 1886. During 
signed by Washington on the disbanding of the the session of 1887 Mr. Branch became widely 
Continental army. His mother was Lucy J. known, and his reputation as lawyer and orator 

was established by his 
remarkable speeches 
on the " Hazen bill." 
He was a member of 
the judiciary commit- 
tee. Re-elected in 
1888, he was the 
candidate of his partv 
for speaker, and dur- 
ing the session of 
1889 he was again 
upon the judiciarv 
committee and added 
to his reputation by 
his efforts on the 
floor, particularly by 
his advocacy of the 
" Australian Ballot " 
bill, which he then 
introduced. In the 
fall of 1889 he re- 
sumed the practice 
of law in Manchester 
and has had a large 
and lucrative client- 
age, being engaged 
in the most impor- 
tant causes that have 
been tried in the cen- 
tral part of the state, 

oration prizes. After two years as principal of achieving many signal victories. As counsel for 
the Forestville (N. Y.) Free Academy and Union the Boston & Maine and Manchester & Lawrence 
School, he entered Columbia College Law School, railroads he has secured a wide reputation. In 
taking the two years' course in one, and graduat- the argument of questions of law he has no equal 
ing in 1876 with the degree of LL. B. He then in the state, and is in the front rank of jury 
taught one year in the Brooklyn Polytechnic lawyers. Mr. Branch is a gentleman of fine 
Institute, and in 1S78 joined his brother in the scholarly and musical tastes and literary accom- 
practice of law in New \'ork city. The firm did plishments. As an orator he is particularly bril- 
an extensive business, and Mr. Branch was pushed liant, and his command of graceful language is as 
to the front in tlu- trial of causes and arguments remarkable as it is pleasing. He received the 
'^ 265 



Bartram, a native of 
Connecticut and a 
descendant of Roger 
Williams. His father 
was Hon. William 
W. Branch, for manv 
years a judge of the 
court of common 
pleas, and prominent 
in the earlv history 
of railroads in north- 
ern Ohio. M r. 
Branch was of a 
family of nine chil- 
dren, born on a farm 
and trained in the 
school of industry 
and self-reliance. 
Having finished his 
preparatory studies at 
Whitestown (N. V.) 
Seminary, fro m 
which he graduated 
in 1868, he entered 
Hamilton College 
the followinsr vear 
and graduated with 
the finest record of 
the class of 1873, 
winning the three 




OLIVER E. BRANCH. 



266 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



degree of master of arts from Hamilton College 
in 1876, and the same degree was conferred upon 
him by Dartmouth in 1895. In 1894 he was 
appointed United States district attorney for New- 
Hampshire. He was influential in establishing 
the Cong-rearational church at North Weare, where 
he resides in summer. In winter he occupies his 
pleasant home on Prospect street, Manchester, and 
is a regular attendant of the Franklin-Street 
church. Mr. Branch was married to Miss Sarah C. 
Chase of Weare in 1878, and has a family of three 
sons and one daughter : Oliver Winslow, born 
Oct. 4, 1879; Dorothy Witter, born Dec. 6, 1881 ; 
Frederick William, born Sept. 18, 1886, and Ran- 
dolph Wellington, born Nov. 26, 1890. 



T^HE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE in Nutfield 
^ was built in 1723. It was of logs, and was 
only sixteen feet by twelve, but it afforded accom- 
modations for the twenty odd pupils. Robert 
Morrison was one of the first, if not the first 
teacher. The building was situated on the com- 
mon, near the meeting-house. In 1 725, ^36 4s. was 
appropriated for schools. In 1727 the town 
" votted to build a school house eighteen feet long 
besides the chimney — that there shouhl be two 
fireplaces m one end, as large as the house will 
allow — to be seven foot in the side in height — 
of logs — to be built at the meeting house." These 
specifications may not seem very definite, but 
doubtless they were understood by the contractor. 



EDWIN THOMAS BALDWIN, whose name 
is such a familiar and honored one in the 
musical circles of New Hampshire, and even far 
beyond its borders, was born in New Ipswich 
July 9, I S3 2. The following year his father re- 
moved to Nashua, then the busiest town in the 
state, and there the subject of this sketch passed 
most of his childhood years. His studies were 
pursued in both public and private schools in 
Nashua and Manchester, and even in later years, 
after taking up his residence in the latter city in 
185 1, he divided his time between these two 
places because of his close identification with the 
musical enterprises of both. Of musical taste and 



abilitx' he inherited a double portion, for his 
mother, youngest daughter of Thomas Moore of 
Nashua, was possessed of a good degree of talent 
in this direction, while his father, although an 
energetic business man, devoted many leisure hours 
to the pursuit of music and encouraged the devel- 
opment of it in his young son. Lessons began at 
an early age, and under most competent instructors, 
first of the piano-forte, and afterward of the organ 
and harmony. Prominent among these instructors 
were Edward A. Hosmer and George J. Webb of 
Boston. From a very small boy he was full of 
enthusiasm for a brass band, and has, since the 
days when he so persistently followed them about 
the streets of the city, himself played all sorts of 
instruments and drilled and led many such organi- 
zations. At the breaking out of the Civil War in 
1 86 1, he and most of the members of his band 
enlisted as privates in Company C, First N. H. 
Regiment, and ' Baldwin's Cornet Band " was the 
first to leave the state, and the first to play in the 
streets of Baltimore after the attack upon the Mas- 
sachusetts Sixth had so nearly annihilated its Lowell 
band. In 1861 Mr. Baldwin married Miss Sarah C. 
Kendrick of Nashua, by whom he had two sons 
and one daughter, to whom he in turn transmitted 
the love of music which he had himself inherited. 
Edwin K. Baldwin, the elder son, is now a well- 
known organist and choir master in Lowell, Mass., 
as well as a successful business man, and Thomas 
C. Baldwin, the younger son, who died Sept. 3, 
1890, was much sought after in musical circles as 
a violinist and singer, being also widely known as 
one of the chief promoters of the \'. P. S. C. E. 
in the state. The daughter is married and 
is now living in Ouincy, Mass. As a teacher 
Mr. Baldwin lias always been in the front rank, 
and from the exceedingly large class of pupils 
which always surrounds him, he has sent out many 
who have an enviable reputation as pianists and 
organists. His recitals are anticipated hv music 
lovers as most enjoyable occasions where only the 
best of music will be heard and that conscientiously 
interpreted and creditably performed. As a com- 
poser, especially of selections for church choirs, he 
is also well and favorably known. As a director 
of choral classes and societies he early demon- 
strated a peculiar fitness, and many have cause to 



WiLLErS BOOK OF NirrFJELTl. 



26"] 



thank him for their introducticjii to the great terms, and since his resignation of that office he 

oratorio works and for the foundation of a taste has been retained on the official board in some 

for choral harmonies. He has always sustained an other capacity and has contributed largely to the 

oro-anized chorus in the church where he was success of that organization. Nowhere has Mr. 

engaged, and in former years was leader of large Baldwin been more highly valued than in the First 

city choruses in both Nashua and Manchester, Congregational church of Manchester, probably 

notably those participating in the great peace the largest church in the state, where he has for 

jubilee in Boston. He proved his devotion to the nearly forty years been organist and music director, 
cause by asking no 



remuneration save 
the faithful and en- 
thusiastic pursuit of 
the task in hand by 
those whom he led. 
Mr. Baldwin is keenly 
alive to any note 
of progress, only ask- 
ing to try new spirits 
to determine of what 
manner they may be, 
and is a man abreast 
of the times in both 
practical and musical 
affairs. In a recent 
trip across the Atlan- 
tic he made a special 
study of the music 
in the English cathe- 
drals and on the con- 
tinent, having en- 
joyed together with 
the musicians with 
whom he travelled 
unusual opportuni- 
ties to see and hear 
famous composers 
and orofanists, with 




EDWIN T. BALDWIN. 



and where he has 
ever sought to main- 
tain a dignified and 
worshipful musical 
service. Music has 
always been to him a 
high and sacred art, 
to be intelligently 
pursued and not 
lightly treated as 
a pastime, and he 
greatly deplores any 
tendency to debase 
it or to lower the 
standard, especially by 
churches and musical 
organizations. He 
has expressed him- 
self upon this point 
in many public utter- 
ances and is every- 
where known as a 
staunch upholder of 
the true and genuine 
in music, as one who 
would educate the 
community, and par- 
ticularly the young, 
to a purity of taste. 
For any musical clap- 



the best of trained 

choirs. Many excellent offers to locate elsewhere trap, for mere jingling rhymes and tunes, he has a 

have been refused by Mr. Baldwin and he seems distinct aversion and denounces them with no 

to have decided wisely, for time has not lessened uncertain sound. Manchester is to be congratu- 

his hold upon his position as an esteemed teacher lated that she has for so many years been the 

and musical authority in this city which now holds chosen home of so cultivated a musician, who is at 

out inducements to many rivals in the profession, the same time a keen, active, public-spirited citizen. 

To all such Mr. Baldwin extends a ready welcome, " 

and all find him a true friend and sympathizer. OOILED EGGS.— The grave and reverend 

The New Hampshire Music Teachers' Association D Matthew Clark ate no meat, but was very 

elected him as their president for three successive fond of eggs. When dining out, if his hostess 



268 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



apologized for her hard-boiled eggs, he would sav : 
" I'll just soften them with butter." If the apol- 
ogy was for soft-boiled eggs, his rcplv would be': 
" I'll harden them with butter." 



CHARLES WILLIAM TEMPLE was born 
in Hyde Park, Vt., July ii, 1846. Coming 
to Manchester in the summer of 1856, he attended 
the public schools for 
two years, and then 
went to work as 
errand boy for Wil- 
liam H. Fisk, remain- 
ing in his employ 
for seventeen years. 
In the summer of 
1875, in company 
with Henry A. Far- 
rington, he purchased 
the business of Wil- 
liam H. Fisk, the 
name of the new 
firm being Temple & 
Farrington until the 
winter of 1886, when 
the business was in- 
corporated as the 
Temple & Farring- 
ton Company. In 
October, 1S95, Mr. 
Temple bought Mr. 
Farrington's entire 
interest in the cor- 
poration, and has 
since conducted 
alone the extensive 
affairs of the house, 
the corporate title 

remaining unchanged. As a jobber and retailer 
of blank books and stationery, watches, clocks, 
and jewelry, wall papers and window shades, he 
has built up a large and lluurishiug business, and 
the house has become one of the best known 
mercantile establishments in New Hampshire. 
Through the many vicissitudes of twentv years 
Mr. Temple has skilfully directed the affairs of the 
firm and achieved a measure of honorable success 
of which any man might well be proud. His place 



of business at 907, 909, and 91 1 Elm street is one 
of the most attractive in Manchester. Mr. Temple 
was married in 1867 to Miss Lucinda L. Chase of 
Manchester, and two sons, Harrv C, deceased, 
and Charles A., have been added to the family. 



c 




CHARLES \V. lEMPLl 



APT. THOMAS PATTERSON, grandson 
of Peter Patterson, one of the early settlers 

of Nutfield, died at 
his home in Lon- 
donderry Oct. 27, 
1869, at the age of 
eighty-three years. 
He was one of the 
strong characters of 
the town, possessing 
marked individuality 
and p o si t i yen ess, 
retaining enough of 
the ancestral brosifue 
to grace his Scotch- 
Irish h u m o r. I n 
early life he was one 
of the most noted 
teachers in this part 
of New Hampshire, 
haying taught thirty- 
o n e t e r m s with 
great success, partic- 
ularly in difficult 
schools, and it is said 
that no unruly young- 
ster ever required a 
second course of his 
peculiar discipline, 
although in the main 
he controlled his 
pupils by firmness 
and kindness, rather than by fear. He lived on 
the farm purchased by his grandfather in 1730, 
filled various offices of trust within the gift of his 
townsmen, and died widel}^ mourned. His widow, 
Hannah D., daughter of John Duncan, survived 
him only two weeks. His younger brother, 
George W., was elected lieutenant governor of 
New York in 1.848, and his elder brother, Peter, 
also held various important public offices in 
that state. 



ALONZO ELLIOTT. 



A 



LONZO ELLIOTT, son of Albert and AhuichcstL-r House, which has succeeded the old 
Adeline Waterman (Blackburn) Elliott, was hostelry of that name, the removal of which to its 

present site was an interesting engineering feat, 
and the remodelling of which has been followed 
by a great increase in the popularitv of the city 
among the travelling public. Mr. Elliott is presi- 
dent of the Manches- 



born in Augusta, Me., July 25, 1849. When he 
was seven years of age his parents removed 
to Sanbornton Bridge, where he obtained his 
early education, completing it at the New Hamp- 
shire Conference 
Seminar v. U p o n 
leaving school he was 
emploved as tele- 
graph operator at 
the station in Tilton, 
and subsequently as 
a clerk in stores at 
Colebrook and 
Wentworth. In 1869 
he settled in Man- 
chester and became 
telegraph operator 
and ticket agent for 
the Concord and the 
Manchester & Law- 
rence railroads, being 
one of the verv few 
sound operators of 
that time. This posi- 
tion he held for 
twentv-three vears, 
with the reputation 
of being the most 
expert ticket seller on 
the entire line of the 
railroads. Resigning 
in 1893, he went into 
the insurance and 
banking business. 

He was one of the incorporators and the organizer Hoyt Shoe Company, the Eureka Shoe Company, 
of the Granite State Trust Company, now the the Kimball Carriage Company, and the Elliott 
Bank of New England, aud is its treasurer. He Manufacturing Company, is due to his efforts, as he 
is also secretary of the Citizens' Building and Loan raised nearly all the capital represented in these 
Association, director and clerk of the People's important industries. In whatever he undertakes 
Gaslight Company, and director of the Garvin's he is an indefatigable worker. His insurance 
Falls Power Company, which proposes to furnish business is extensive, representing as it does 
electric power to Manchester consumers and to twenty-five fire, life, and accident companies. Mr. 
the town of Hooksett as well. With ex-Gov. Elliott married, first, Ella R., dauarhter of Amos 
Weston and John B. A'arick he owns the New Weston, Jr., of Manchester, and niece of ex-Gov. 

269 




ALONZO EI.LIOI 1. 



ter Electric Light 
Company, and takes 
justifiable pride in 
the fact that this city 
is the best lighted 
municipality in the 
United States. In 
addition to all this 
he is a trustee of the 
Guaranty Savings 
bank, and was one 
of the active pro- 
moters and the first 
treasurer of the 
Elliott Manufactur- 
ing Company, manu- 
facturers of knit 
goods, with a capital 
of $150,000 and cm- 
ploying three hun- 
dred hands. He has 
also been interested 
in various other suc- 
cessful business insti- 
tutions ; in fact, the 
locating in Manches- 
ter of many of the 
leading enterprises, 
notably the F. M. 



270 



W'lLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



James A. Weston. His second wife was Medora, for a year. He then returned to Boston, to 

daughter of George W. and Sarah (Mead) Weeks, pursue the same line of business, which he carried 

her father being a well known shoe dealer of on successfully there until 1875. In that year he 

Manchester for many years. They haye four came back to Manchester a second time, and has 

children : Lucille Weeks, aged fourteen ; Laura since resided here, building uj) a large business as 

Medora, aged twelye ; Mildred Weeks, aged five, a dealer in upholstery, paper hangings, drapery, 

and Alonzo, Jr., aged four years. Mr. Elliott is a curtains, embroidery and fancy goods, and achiev- 

member of Trinity Commandery, Knights Tem- iiig a commercial success which has made his name 



plar, and he was a 
charter member of 
the Derryfield Club. 
He attends the Uni- 
tarian church. Few 
men haye done more 
than he for his 
adopted city, and his 
beautiful residence, 
Brookhurst, is one of 
the most attractive 
in Manchester. 




RD. GAY, son of 
Benjamin H. 
and Ann D. (Stowe) 
Gay, was born in 
Hillsboro Oct. 23, 
1838. Receiving his 
education in the 
common schools of 
his native town and 
at Henniker Acad- 
emy, he worked for 
his father, who was 
a tanner, shoemaker, 
and farmer, until he 
became of age. In 

1859, with only ten dollars in his pocket, he went Amoskeag Grange, and for four years was a 
to Boston to seek his fortune. Here he was member of the executive committee of the State 
employed two years and a half in a woollen store. Grange, and has attended six sessions of the 
and subsequently became a member of the firm of National Grange. He is an enthusiastic member 
W. B. Ellis & Co., at No. 289 Washington street of the Ralston Health Club, Washington, D. C. 
This connection lasted until 1869, when he sold Mr. Gay attends the First Congregational church, 
his interest in the firm and removed to Manches- of which body he is a member. Dec. iS, 1862, 
ter to engage in the market and provision business, he was married to Miss Julia F. Blanchard of 
in the firm of O. & R. D. Gay, subsequently Gay Washington, N. H. His present place of 
& Davis. Disposing of his interest in the business, business is 72 Hanover street, and his residence- 
he engaged in the grain trade, which he continued 86 Prospect street, Manchester, 



ROBERT DUNCAN GAY. 



a household word in 
the city. When the 
postoffice block was 
built in 1876, he 
rented one of the 
stores and moved 
into it his small 
stock and laid well 
the foundations of 
his subsequent pros- 
perity. With such a 
versatile genius for 
mercantile affairs, 
and with an expe- 
rience in so many 
lines of trade, it is 
not strange that he 
has succeeded. Mr. 
Gay is a director in 
the Two Hundred 
i\ssociates' Real Es- 
tate Company, a 
very successful insti- 
tution with headquar- 
ters at Boston. He 
is a member of 
Lafayette Lodge of 
Masons, of the Pil- 
grim Fathers, and of 



HENRY DE WOLFE CARVELLE, M. D. 



HKNRV De WOLFE CARVELLE, M. D., ophthalmic and aural surgeon in New Hampshire. 

was born in Richmond, N. B., May 26, 1852, and is called to all parts of the state upon difficult 

his parents being James Sherrartl and Elizabeth cases. Dr. Carvelle is an Episcopalian, but attends 

(Porter) Carvell. His mother was of Scotch birth, the Franklin-Street Congregational church. He 

her ancestors coming from a place in Scotland is a member of Wildey Lodge and Washington 

near the home of the immortal Burns. His father Encampment, 1. O. O. F., the Calumet and Elec- 



tric clubs, the Gym- 
nasium, the New 
Hampshire Medical 
Society, the Centre 
District Medical So- 
ciety of Concord, the 
New England Oph- 
thalmological Soci- 
ety of Boston, cen- 
sor of the Medico- 
Chirurgical College 
of Philadelphia, hon- 
orary member of the 
L. Webster Fox 
Ophtlial m ological 
Society of Philadel- 
phia, of the ophthal- 
mological section of 
the American Medi- 
cal Association, and 
of the Pan-American 
Medical Congress. 
He has taken various 
special courses in the 
diseases of the eye 
and ear in New York. 
In 1887 he spent 
several months in the 
Roval London Oph- 
thalmic Hospital and 

Edward Waldo Emerson in his practice for a few in the eye and ear clinics in Paris. He is ophthal- 
months, residing at the house of Ralph Waldo mic and aural surgeon of the Elliot Hospital and 
Emerson, the latter's father, where his associations of Notre Dame de Lourdes Hospital and medical 
with the distinguished family were exceedingly examiner for the Northwestern Life Insurance 
delightful. After leaving college Dr. Carvelle Company. He married Anna Brewster Sullivan, 
settled in Boston for a short time, but soon daughter of John and Arianna (Whittemore) Sul- 
removed to Manchester. He continued in gen- livan of Suncook, on May 5, 1893, and they have 
eral practice till 1884, since which time he has one daughter, Euphrosyne Parepa, born May 16, 
devoted himself to treatment of the eye and 1894. His wife is a granddaughter of the late 
ear. As a si)ecialist he ranks high, being the first Hon. Aaron Whittemore of Pembroke. 

271 



was English, de- 
scended from an old 
family whose ances- 
try dated back to 
the time of William 
the Conqueror, and 
his great-grandfather 
fought in the Revolu- 
tion on the British 
side. Dr. Carvelle 
graduated from the 
Richmond high 
school, and in 1873 
entered the Boston 
Eye and Ear Infirm- 
ary as medical at- 
tendant, remaining 
t h e r e two years. 
During the second 
year he pursued his 
studies under the 
guidance of Dr. Al- 
bert N. Blodgett, 
superintendent of the 
institution. In 1875 
he entered the Har- 
vard Medical School 
and graduated in 
1878. During his last 
year he assisted Dr. 




HENRY DE WOLEE CARVELLE, M. 1). 



272 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



JOHN McNEIL was the first settler in Man- 
chester at the Amoskeag Falls, being em- 
ployed there by the town of Lunch )nderrv' to ferrv 
the townspeople to and from the ishuids on their 
fishing trips. He was six feet six inches tall, had 
the strength of a Samson, and was the champion 
wrestler in all this section of New Hampshire. 
His great-grandson, Gen. John McNeil, who was 
of about the same height and proportions, distin- 
guished himself at the battles of Chippewa and 
Niagara in the war of 181 2, and at the latter 
engagement was wounded in the knee by a grape- 
shot which crippled him for life. In 1830 Presi- 
dent Jackson appointed him surveyor of the port 
of Boston, and he held that office until his death in 



1850. Gen. John A. Dix, in his memoirs, relates 
this anecdote of Gen. McNeil : At the June ses- 
sions of the New Hampshire legislature, Gen. 
McNeil was a familiar figure. He delighted in 
standing alxiut the state house grounds on those 
occasions to meet his friends and converse with 
them on current topics. One day a little fellow, 
about five feet tall, was introduced to him by a 
friend. In order to start a convei'sation the man 
said to him : " General, how did you become 
lame?" The general was nettled. Straightening his 
tall form to its full height, he looked down on the 
little man and replied : "I fell down a barn cellar, 

you d n fool ! Didn't you ever read the history 

of vour countrv ? " 





J-Sfe.GeKnorti'.i 



V 






^ «N 



W J St^KP. 



S'ifi-itr of Hill.^bor','' i?.(.:U!.it(/. 




Tbonja^s -flobo^ 



SHERIFF HEALV ANU iMANCHEh I'EK DEPUTIES. 



SHRIEVALTY OF HILLSBORO COUNTY. 



r^OL. DANIEL F. HEALY, sheriff of Hills- 
^-^ boro county, was born at Cedarburg, Wis., 
Dec. 20, 1849. His parents, Cornelius and Mary 
Healy, were natives of Ireland who emigrated to 
America in 1845 and settled first in Manchester, 
where they were married in 1848, removing the 
same year to Wisconsin, where they remained 
until the father's untimely death in 1850. The 
widowed mother and son then returned to Man- 
chester, where he has ever since resided. She 
died in 1854, leaving her only child to the care of 
his grandfather, Daniel Healy. The lad attended 
the public schools in the old Bakersville district 
until the age of eleven, when he went to work in 
the Manchester Mills, and for the succeeding years 
divided his time between work and attending the 
old Park-street grammar school. In Februar)^, 1864, 
when only fourteen years of age, he enlisted as 
drummer boy in the Sixth New Hampshire Regi- 
ment, but through the persistent efforts of his 
grandfather and the latter's counsel, Hon. Cyrus 
A. Sulloway, the runaway boy was, by special 
order of the war department, discharged and sent 
home. The military spirit of the young soldier 
was, however, not so easily daunted, and a second 
time he went south and made himself useful bv 
attending to the wounded in camp and on the 
battlefield. In 1866 he bound himself for three 
years as apprentice 'in the machine shop of the 
Manchester Mills, and during all his apprentice- 
ship he attended evening school and a business 
college. Having served his time, he worked at 
his trade of machinist in the Manchester Loconio- 
tive Works, and in 1870 entered the employment 
of Varney & Nichols, machinists, remaining with 
them until 1874. His skill at his trade received 
recognition in his selection, together with Wil- 
liam F. Barrett, to put into operation the Cheney 
paper mill at Henniker, and in his special employ- 
ment upon the knitting machines for the works of 
ex-Gov. Smyth at Hillsboro Bridge. His political 
career began in 1874 with his election to the state 
legislature ; in 1876 he was a member of the Man- 
chester common council, and in 1888 he was an 
alternate delegate to the Republican national con- 
vention. Appointed dcputv sheriff for Hillsboro 



county in 1874, he served in that capacity until 
1884, when he was elected to the office of sheriff, 
which position he has since occupied. In his 
official position Sheriff Healy has won the confi- 
dence and esteem of both bench and bar. Faithful 
to all his duties and to the trusts confided to his 
care, his efficiency and integrity are commended 
by judges and lawyers alike. He has always been 
a member of St. Anne's church, the oldest Catholic 
parish m the city, and his numerous social and 
fraternal connections include the Grand Army, 
the Foresters, the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, 
the Amoskeag Veterans, and the Derryfield Club. 
His title of colonel was obtained by service on 
Gov. Goodell's staff in 1889-90. He was married 
in 1878 to Mary A., daughter of Timothy Sullivan 
of Manchester, and four children, three of whom 
survive, were the fruit of this union : Daniel F., Jr., 
James C, and Arthur S., aged respectively sixteen, 
fifteen, and twelve. Mrs. Healy died in 1885, and 
in September, 1893, Col. Healy was married to 
Sarah J. Carbery of Peabody, Mass. 

Deputy Sheriff Harrison D. Lord was born in 
Barnstead Dec. 23, 1825. Coming to Manchester 
in 1844, he learned the machinist's trade and was 
employed by the Amoskeag company until 1865. 
He was then elected city messenger and held the 
office for five years, serving also as constable in 
the meantime. He was appointed to his present 
position in 1S76, and from that year until 1885 
was also deputy sheriff of Rockingham county. 
Gov. Currier appointed him to the office of 
coroner, which he still holds. Mr. Lord was a 
member of the legislature in 1870, and for eight 
years has been on the board of assessors. He was 
married in 1854 to Miss Juliette True of Centre 
Harbor, who died, leaving two sons : Harry T., 
born Mav 7, 1863, and Samuel J., born Sept. 14, 
1869. In February, 1875, he married Mrs. Susan 
Beane of Manchester, who died in July, 1877. 

Deputy Sheriff William J. Starr, son of 
William and Joanna (Cronin) Starr, was born in 
A'lanchester April 20, 1863. After graduating 
from the scientific department of Dartmouth Col- 
lege in 1884, he engaged for a number of years in 
the liankina," and investment business in the West. 



274 



WILLBY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



April I, 1895, he was appointed deputy sheriff. 
He is a member of St. Anne's church and of 
the Knights of Columbus. 

Deputy Sheriff Frank T. E. Richardson, son 
of Reuben M. and Mary A. (Sanborn) Richardson, 
was born in Chester April 26, 1841. Coming to 
Manchester in early youth, he was graduated from 
the high school, and for several years he was 
employed in various capacities by different corpora- 
tions. In September, 1S62, he became accountant 
in the office of the Amoskeag Manufacturing 
Company and filled that position with marked 
fiidelity for twenty-eight years, resigning in 1890 to 
accept the paymastership of the Stark Mills, 
where he remained four years. In January, 1894, 
he was appointed deputy sheriff, and has since 
devoted himself to the duties of that office. He 
has been a member of the legislature, supervisor 
of elections and for many years a member of the 
school board. Mr. Richardson is prominent in 
Masonry and Odd Fellowship. He was married 
in 1863 to Mary C, daughter of Merrick and 
Eusebe (Gerry) Houghton of Sterling, Mass., and 
three daughters have been born to them. 

Deputy Sheriff Thomas Hobbs was born in 
Manchester March 4, 1868. His father, Hon. 
Edwin H. Hobbs, was at the head of the civil 
engineering department of the Amoskeag Manu- 
facturing Company for many years and was a 
state senator. After two years at Dartmouth 
College, Mr. Hobbs was engaged in business for 
several years, and Jan. i, 1895, ^^''is appointed 
deputy sheriff. 

Deputy Sheriff Joseph N. St. Germain was 
born in Sherbrooke, Province of Quebec, Sept. 2, 
1870, and graduated from the Sherbrooke Univer- 
sity in 1889. He came to Manchester in 1890 
and was secretary of the Littlefield Drug Company 
until February, 1895. In April of the same year 
he was appointed deputy sheriff. Mr. St. Germain 
has the reputation of being the most expert 
swordsman in New Hampshire, having perfected 
himself in the art of fencing: in Paris. 



it should be made in the records. This is the 
entry he made, and it is the only authentic account « 
which has been handed down of that memorable 
event: "on tusday nobr ye 18th 1755 at foure 
aclock in the morning and ten minets there was 
an Extrornary Shock of An Earthquaik and con- 
tinuous afterwards with smaller shocks." 



ALEXANDER McMURPHY was born in 
Londonderry Dec. 9, 18 13, in the house 
where he now lives. He received a common 
school education, with the addition of a few terms 




ALEXANDER MCMURPHV. 



T"HE EARTHQUAKE SHOCK on Nov. 18, 

1755, was so severe in Nutfield that Moses 

Barnett, the town clerk, felt that some mention of 



at Pinkerton Academy. He learned the carpen- 
ter's trade, and being very clever in the use of 
tools, he was secured by his brother-in-law, Jacob 
Chickering, in Andover, Mass., to work in his 
piano factory. When he was twenty-one years of 
age, his father offered him the homestead if he 
would return and assume the responsibility of 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD 

paying certain sums of money to his sister, and 
give a bond of maintenance for the support of his 
parents. Fie accepted the condition and returned 
to Derry in 1835. (For an extensive genealogy of 
the McMurphy family, see Derry edition, Book of 
Nutfield.) ' ' 



'75 



NOEL E. GUILLET, M. D., was born in 
St. Charles, Canada, on Christmas Day, 
1 86 1, son of Charles and Mary (Pratt) Guillet. 
His parents removed to Burlington, Vt., when he 




DR. N. E. GUILLET. 

was five years of age, and he has resided in the 
United States since that time. He attended the 
public schools of Burlington, Vt., St. Hvacinthe 
CoUeore, Victoria Medical School in Montreal, 
and the medical school at Burlington, graduating 
in 1886 and settling for practice in Nashua. After 
leaving St. Hyacinthe College he studied under 
Dr. St. Jacques (who was also a druggist) of 
St. Hyacinthe, and then went to Woonsocket, 
R. F, and was registered as a pharmacist. Here 
lie purchased a drug store and earned enough 
money to go to Montreal and Burlington to finish 



his medical studies. After engaging in his pro- 
fession in Nashua seven years he went to Europe, 
where he studied surgery for a year and a half, 
coming to Manchester on his return. While in 
Paris he was for six months ex-chief of clinics at 
St. Joseph Hospital. Dr. Guillet makes a specialty 
of general surgery and diseases of the nose, throat, 
ear, and bladder. He is consulting surgeon of the 
Fanny Allen Hospital of Winooski, Vt., president 
and surgeon-in-chief of Notre Dame Hospital of 
Manchester. He married, Feb. 4, 1889, Elizabeth, 
daughter of Edward and Marguerite (Lambert) 
Lessard of St. John, Canada, who died Nov. 20, 
1889. He has one daughter, Isabelle Irene, born 
Nov. 13, 1889. Dr. Guillet attends St. Augustine 
church. 



T^HE PRINCIPAL ROADS IN TOWN are 
i the River road south, extending from Bakers- 
ville to Litchfield, name now changed to Brown 
avenue ; Calef, from Bakersville to junction with 
Brown avenue; Nutt, from junction of Elm and 
Hayward streets to Londonderry line ; South, 
from Goffe's Falls to Mammoth road, thence 
Corning to Conant, and the last from Derry road 
near Mosquito Pond schoolhouse to Londonderry 
line; Harvey road, from Nutt, near Cohas brook, 
to Londonderry line ; Mammoth, from London- 
derry to Hooksett lines ; Derry, from town line on 
the south to Mammoth near crossing of Cohas 
brook ; Weston, from Mammoth to Nutt ; Merrill, 
from Weston to Brown avenue ; Cohas, from 
Derry road near Webster, past pumping station 
to city reservoir; Island Pond, from reservoir, 
north side, to Auburn line ; Lake Shore, from 
Island Pond road near Mill Dam House to Candia 
road beyond Voungsville ; Candia road, from Mas- 
sabesic street to Auburn line, near head of Lake 
Massabesic ; Smyth, from Gore street near Amos- 
keag reservoir to Mammoth road near Hooksett 
line ; Hooksett road, from Liberty street near 
Salmon to Hooksett ; River road north, from 
Amoskeag bridge to Hooksett line; Dunbarton 
road, from Front street near Black brook to Dun- 
barton line; Gofifstown road, from I""ront street to 
Goffstown line; New Mast, from 371 Mast street 
to Goffstown line. (See " Roads and Streets," p. 63). 



276 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



ARTHUR HERBERT HALE, son of Wil- 
liam Henry and Mary Jane (Pillsbury) Hale, 
was born in Concord March 27, 1864. His father, 
a machinist by occupation, is a native of Salem, 
Mass., and his mother was born in Boscawen. 
Arthur began his education in the public schools 
of Concord, graduating from the high school first 
in his class, and from Dartmouth College also 
among the first in the 
class of 1886. He 
came to Manchester 
the same year and 
entered the office of 
Hon. David Cross as 
a law student. In 
1889 he was admitted 
to the bar and at once 
formed a partnership 
with Hon. Lucien B. 
Clough, which was 
continued until 1892, 
when he accepted the 
office of cashier of the 
First National bank 
of Manchester, a posi- 
tion which he now 
holds. He has also 
been made treasurer 
of the Merrimack 
River Savings bank. 
Mr. Hale married 
Addie A., daughter of 
Oilman C. and Olive 
(Batchellor) Smith of 
Manchester, both pa- 
rents being natives of 
Candia and the former 
a brother of ex-Oov. 

Frederick Smyth. Two children have blessed 
their union: Olive, born April i, 1893, and a son, 
born July 12, 1895. Judge Stanley and Hon. 
Oliver Pillsbury, insurance commissioner of New 
Hampshire, were relatives of Mr. Hale. He has 
shown especial aptitude for matters of finance and 
gives particular attention to the investment of 
money and the safe placing of loans. While he is 
not one of the old residents, he has yet achieved a 
reputation for honesty and fair dealing indis- 




pensable to a successful banker. Mr. Hale is 
clerk of the Forsaith Machine Company, secretary 
of the local Dartmouth Alumni Association, and a 
prominent member of the Franklin-Street Con- 
gregational church, and seems in every way fitted 
for the various responsible positions which he 
occupies. (See article on First National bank of 
Manchester and Merrimack River Savings bank, 

entitled " Banks and 
Banking.") 



w 



ARTHUR H. HALE. 



M. PERKINS, 
son of Capt. 
James and Sally 
(Smith) Perkins, was 
born July 31, 18 16, at 
Essex, M ass. His 
father, a tanner and 
a native of Essex, 
moved to London- 
derry with his familv 
of eight children, 
three girls and five 
boys, and purchased a 
farm, desiring to save 
his sons from the 
temptations and dan- 
gers of a sea-farins: 
life, with which he was 
too well acquainted, 
having followed the 
sea for many years. 
William was about 
twelve years of age 
at this time, and here 
he attended the dis- 
trict schools and later 
Pinkerton Academy. After completing his educa- 
tion he found employment in the shoe manufac- 
tories of Goflfe's Falls and Amoskeag. From the 
latter place he went to Marlborough as a book- 
keeper, but did not remain long, as an opportunitv 
was offered him to buy an mterest in the flour and 
grain business of Sargent & Hall, at the corner of 
Elm and Central streets, the firm name becoming 
Sargent, Hall & Perkins. About this time, 1850, 
he began to sell coal, and was the first person to 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



277 



deal in this fuel, selling out his interests in this line generous, and true to his convictions in all the 
later to E. V. Johnson. In 1867 Mr. Perkins relations of life, he was greatly respected l)y the 
again made a husiness change, entering into part- public and loved by his friends, 
nership with E. P. Johnson in the sale of hay, 
grain, and coal, under the firm name of E. P. 

TSAAC WniTTEMORE, the son of Jacob and 
i Sally (Blodgett) Whittemore, was born in 
Manchester May 19, 18 18, and received his educa- 
tion in the public schools. He worked on his 
father's farm until the age of twenty-three, and 
then l)egan farming for himself and has pursued 
the same vocation ever since, tilling also with 
credit many public offices. He was moderator of 
Ward 6 in 1852-53; selectman from the same 
ward from 1854 to 1868; assessor or assistant 
assessor every year since 1868, except 1877, to the 
present time; member of the legislature in 1857 
and 1859; alderman in 1866-67; inspector of 
check lists, 1876 to 1892; enrolling officer of 
militia in 1863-64 ; and enumerator of the United 
States census in 1880 and 1890. Mr. Whittemore 



/'/. -^^ '^ 




WILLIAM PERKINS. 







\ 



Johnson cSi Co., this connection lasting till the 
time of his death, Dec. 20, 1891. Mr. Perkins 
married Miss Sarah A. Hartlett June 3, 1847, and 
two children were born to them : J. Frank of 
St. John, N. B., and Ida H., wife of George W. 
Towle of Fort Payne, Ala. His first wife died 
Oct. 26, (882, and March 23, 1887, he married 
Mrs. Mary D. Colburn of this city, who survives 
him. Mr. Perkins twice represented his ward in 
the state legislature, during the sessions of 1877 
and 1878, and was also a member of Lafayette 
Lodge, A. F. and A. M. Brought up in the Con- 
gregational faith, he early entertained distinctive 

views of his own, and united with the Unitarian was married to Lucy Hall Dec. 28, 1843, and by 
church, of which he was a constant attendant and her had two children : Emma Frances, born Nov. 
one of its most liberal supporters. Mr. Perkins 21, 1845, died Feb. 28, 1877, and Isaac Clarence, 
was a man who possessed many warm personal born Dec. 2, 1847, ^^i^' living in Manchester, 
friends, being of a genial, social nature. Honest, Mrs. Whittemore died April 25, 1889. 



V. 



ISAAC WHITTEMORE. 



278 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



O 



TIS BARTON, the founder of the old dry getting credit for a small stock of goods, and in 

goods and carpet house of Barton & Co., is February, 1850, he opened his little store under 

of Puritan stock, his ancestors having come from the firm name of Barton & Co. Under this name 

England and settled in Massachusetts in the he has done business here for nearly fifty years, 

seventeenth century. He is of the fifth generation and during all this time has never had a note 

in descent from Samuel and Hannah Barton, who go to protest ; every claim against his firm has 

were married in i6go and settled in Framingham, been met promptly in full, and his establishment 

Mass., and he is the youngest son of Warner and today is not only one of the oldest and largest dry 



Elizabeth (Clement) 
Barton, who were mar- 
ried in 1 8 1 5 and located 
in Worcester, Mass., 
where they lived until 
1824, when they emi- 
grated to Maine, where 
Otis was born in 1825. 
He lived on his father's 
farm until he was eigh- 
teen years of age, when 
he entered a little coun- 
try store in his native 
town. Soon realizing, 
however, that there was 
little chance to better 
his condition, he gave 
up his situation in less 
than a year and went 
first to Worcester, and 
then to Springfield, 
Mass., then the western 
terminus of the Boston 
& Albany railroad. 
Here he found employ- 
ment in a small dry 
goods store at a salary 
of fifty dollars a year 

and board. After re- 

maining five years as 

clerk with this firm, he decided to go into business T^HE FIRST BIRTH IN NUTFIELD was 
himself, and visited many New England towns in i that of Jonathan Morrison, son of John and 
search of a desirable location. Coming to Man- Margaret Morrison, who was born Sept. 8, 1719, 
Chester in January, 1850 he determined, after within less than six months after the settlement 
remaining a few days, that he would try his of the colony. The second child born was James 
fortunes here, provided he could get credit in McKean, Jr. Their births were not far apart, and 
Boston for goods with which to stock a small there had been much an.xious speculation which 
store, for he was a stranger and without money, mother's son should obtain the prize of a farm. 
He accordingly went to Boston, and making or lot of land, which was to be assigned to the 
known his condition and wishes, succeeded in first-born son of Nuffield. 




goods and carpet houses 
in the state, but also 
one of the most reli- 
able and successful. 
During the civil war 
Mr. Barton was a 
member of the city 
government for a 
few years. He has 
been a director in the 
Amoskeag National 
bank and is at present 
a trustee in the Amos- 
keag Savings bank. 
Mr. Barton was mar- 
ried in March, 185 i, to 
Sarah J. Tuck, a teacher 
in the public schools 
and a daughter of Dea- 
con Samuel Tuck of 
this city. Two sons, 
Milton Homer, born 
June 20, 1852, and 
Frederick Otis, born 
Jan. 20, 1858, were 
added to the family. 
Mrs. Barton died July 
3, 1891. 



OTIS BARTON. 




LANDING OF THE NORSEMEN. 

In M^ncliester Art Gallery. 




ICHABOD CRANE AND THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 



GRAVE OF GEN. STARK. 





:lS?SS'.:f-' 



SECOND FRAMED HOUSE IN NUTITELD. 




THE RETURNED VOLUNTEER. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



283 



J 



OHN FERGUSON, M. D., son of David F. to the faculty of the medical college of Castleton, 
and Kate Lavenia (Fitz Gerald) Ferguson, \'t., then in session, and easily obtained their 

diploma. In the follow- 
ing spring he received 
the diploma of the Col- 
lege of Physicians and 
Surgeons of New York, 
and then accepted the 
position of surgeon on a 
line of mail steamships 
plying between New 
York, Liverpool, Bre- 
men, and Havre, where 
for three years he was 
associated with many 
distinguished persons 
among the travelling 
public and made many 
valuable friends. Leav- 
ing the service of the 
steamship company, he 
was appointed one of 
the post-mortem examin- 
inor surofeons for the 
coroners of New York 
city, also assistant ana- 
tomical demonstrator 
and assistant clinical in- 
structor at the medical 
university in Fourteenth 
street, a college patron- 
ized chiefly by the sons 
of Southern planters. In 
1 86 1 he came to Man- 
chester, being the first 
Irish physician to settle 
here, and was shortly 
afterward appointed by 
Gov. Berry surgeon of 
the Tenth New Ham])- 
shirc Yolunteers. He 
left for the front with 
his regiment in the fall 
of 1862. During his 



was born in Rathkeale, 
county of Limerick, Ire- 
land, Oct. 28, 1829. His 
ancestors were Scotch, 
who settled in the north 
of Ireland and were gen- 
erally engaged in linen 
manufacture. His grand- 
father, David, moved to 
the south of Ireland, 
became a merchant in 
Rathkeale, and reared a 
family of five sons and 
two daughters. Four 
of the sons chose the 
learned professions, law, 
divinitv, and medicine, 
one of them becoming 
judge for the southern 
district of Ireland. Dr. 
Ferguson is the eldest 
of eight children. He 
was instructed by a pri- 
vate tutor in his early 
years, and was graduated 
from a Jesuit college in 
1847. He then imme- 
diately began the study 
of medicine with his 
uncle. Dr. Philip O'Han- 
lon, in Rathkeale, and 
in 1850 was graduated 
from the Hall of Apothe- 
caries in Dublin. His 
continued association 
with his uncle enabled 
him to acquire a practi- 
cal knowledge of medi- 
cine, surgery, pharmacv, 
and dispensary practice. 
Dr. O'Hanlon emigrated 
to America and soon 

became celebrated as a successful practitioner in residence in New York he had been surgeon on 
New York. Dr. Ferguson followed him to this the staff of Col. Corcoran, of the famous Sixty- 
country in 1 85 1, and that lie might practice his Ninth Regiment, and saw service in the quaran- 
profession here he offered himself for examination tine riots on Staten Island, which fitted him all 




JOHN FERGUSON, M. D. 



284 



WILLET'S BOOK OP NUTFlELD. 



the better to fill the position of brigade surgeon 
during the Civil War. Near the close of the 
Rebellion he returned to Manchester, where he 
has since resided and l)uilt up a large anti lucrative 
practice. In 1881 he was a member of the state 
leg-islature. Dr. Ferrruson married Eleanor, only 
surviving daughter of Michael and Eleanor 
Husfhes, who belontred to an old and wealthv 
family of New York city. Four children have 
been born to this union : Eleanora, born on 
Staten Island, married William Goggin of Man- 
chester, January, 1889; Alfred, born in Manches- 
ter, died in 1872 ; Mary C, and John D. Dr. Fer- 
guson is a member of the New Hampshire 
Medical Society, and among his professional 
brethren stands high as a skilful practitioner, while 
in social life he is a thorough gentleman of the 
old school. 



SAMUEL CLARK, son of Robert Clark, was 
born in the English Range, Derry, Dec. 27, 

1798. Me was of Scotch-Irish descent. Feb. 26, 







Robert Hamilton. Samuel Clark was one of nine 
children, and was but seventeen years of age when 
his father died ; yet being possessed of great energy 
and an iron constitution, combined with good 
judgment, he readily assumed the management of 
the farm and shared with his mother the respon- 
sibility of rearing several younger brothers and 
sisters and had the satisfaction of seeing them all 
become worthy citizens. In 1831 he purchased the 
farm on the shore of Tsienneto lake, now in posses- 
sion of his only son, and here he remained, success- 
fully tilling his acres until his death, which occurred 
March 10, 1884. He had a wonderfully retentive 
memory, and his conversation was always enter- 
taining. Kind and sympathetic by nature, he was 
ever attentive in time of sickness or distress. 
During his long life he was a constant attendant 
at the First Parish church, and was deeply inter- 
ested in the welfare of his native town, which he 
served as selectman. His son, Robert H., was 
born in Derry, Nov. 8, 1842, inheriting many of 
his father's traits of character. March i, 1S62, 
he married Frances Choate of Lowell, Mass., and 
their children are: George Choate, Lillian May, 
Emily Bertha, Edith Lucy, and Emma Josephine. 
Although Mr. Clark and his son George are suc- 
cessfully engaged in farming and carpentering, he 
has been active in town affairs, having served as 
town treasurer in 1875-77; as selectman 1887-89, 
and '93 ; as member of the board of appraisers in 
1892, and as representative to the general court 
in 1895. 



w 



ITCHCRAFT.— Probably most of the 
descendants of the Nutfield colony are 
familiar with the small tree or shrub that grows 
abundantly over all parts of the township and is 
commonly called the witch-hazel. It furnishes an 
inexhaustible supply of aromatic and pungent ods 
for the manufacture of a large variety of medicinal 
remedies. At the present time one establishment 
for the manulacture of witch-hazel oil exists in 
Derry, and the forests are thoroughly searched for 
1829, he married Eliza Ann, daughter of Ebenezer the shrub, which in its crude form has no commer- 
Gregg of Derry. She was born July 26, 1804, and cial value, and the owners of woodland are gener- 
died Nov. 20, 1881. Their chiklrcn were: Mary allv (juite willing to [lart with all their witch-hazel 
Ann, Lucinda, Eliza Ann, Mary Frances, and at the pleasure of the proprietor of the establish- 



SAMUEL CLARK. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 285 

mc-nt. It may not he so generally known or his home and the city, there is one long hill, and 
l»clieved that the early settlers of this town were the road led straight over the top of it, according 
inclined to certain superstitions concerning the to the general custom of building highways in the 
]iower of this shrub. The covenanters took earlier times. The farmer with his oxen and load 
exceedingly literal views of the meaning of the of logs was proceeding leisurely up this long hill, 
Holy Scriptures and had a lively imagination to and had nearly reached the summit, when the 
conceive of the possession and operations of clevis pin sprang out of the spire to the impro- 
unseen spirits. As the nature and inlluence of the vised wagon and the load of logs began running 
unseen powers were ine.Kplicable, so the means of backward down the hill. Owing to the straight- 
guarding against their machinations were also ness of the road and the dragging of the spire, like 
beyond the scope of reason, and now the mere a ship's rudder behind, the load ran to the very 
recital of our ancestors' belief in witches, and bottom of the hill without leaving the ruts. The 
credulity in charms for protection against their farmer was somewhat surprised at this unusual 
evil intentions is enough to create doubts of their accident, and picking u]) the clevis pin, returned 
mental sanity and lead to investigation of other with the oxen to the bottom of the hill, where he 
peculiarities for which thev were noted. About a attached them again to the load and proceeded a 
hundred years ago there were several persons second time on his way. Never having suffered 
residing in the town of Londonderry who were from a like mishap before, the farmer could not 
commonly reported as possessed of occult powers expect it to be repeated, but he had scarcely 
and in collusion with satanic agencies that ren- reached the same place on the side of the hill 
dered them peculiarly dangerous to the community, when the clevis pin was heard to fall on the 
and especially liable to inHict bodily injuries or ground, followed by the withdrawal of the spire 
torments under any exciting cause. The safety of from the ring and staple of the yoke, and the load 
the common people was believed to lie conserved began running down hill in the same unaccount- 
best by maintaining peaceful relations with the able manner, and continued as before to the 
witches and avoiding all occasions for re\'enge. bottom. The farmer was in a passion, but like all 
For the sake of those who might trace relationship persevering heroes of romance he picked \\\> his 
to some of these characters and resent the personal clevis pin and went back for a third trial. .\s he 
allusion, it will serve the reader equally well to pondered over the incident on his way down the 
omit names in the following instances of alleged hill, occasionally venting a little of his temper 
witchcraft in Londonderry, although in the present upon the oxen with his stout goadstick, the 
state of enlightenment on the subject of posses- thought came to him that a good withe, made from 
sions and the curative arts it is no unworthy reflec- witch-hazel, well twisted and bound around the end 
tion to remember the absurdities that were per- of the spire and over the head of the clevis pin, 
fectly natural to the men and women of the last might prevent a further repetition of that partic- 
century. ular annoyance. The witch-hazel grows by all 
One of these reputed witches lived on the roadsides and he had no difficulty in finding just 
Haverhill road, or very near to it on a bridle path what he wanted, and in a few minutes he had 
in the southeastern part of the town. Among her twisted it under his feet until it was as pliable as a 
neighbors was a farmer with a wife and small rope and fully as strong. After slipping the spire 
children. The farmer owned a wood lot and con- into the yoke ring and putting in the clevis pin, 
\erted his wood and timber into money and he proceeded to wind the tough withe around the 
domestic goods. In the process of hauling wood spire between the ring and the clevis pin, and 
he used an ox team. On a certain day he started beyond the pin and over its head, and finished by 
from his home with a small load of logs on a four- tucking the end through a loop in the branches, 
wheeled wagon made by joining two single pairs When the farmer had completed this work to his 
of wheels, and he had one strong yoke of oxen to satisfaction, he chuckled to himself a little and 
draw his load. On the Haverhill road, between started up his oxen with a greatly improved temper. 



286 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



He passed the hill without further trouble, reached 
Haverhill, disposed of his load, and reached 
home about six o'clock, both hungry and tired, 
he therefore resorted to the expedient of unyokinij 
the oxen and leaving the yoke on the spire until 
some other time. He had scarcely gotten his oxen 
into the barn when his wife came from the house 
and said their neighbor, calling her by name, the 
person who had the reputation of being a witch, 
had been suddenly seized with choking and was in 
great distress, in danger of dying, and had sent 
over for him to come to her just as speedily as 
possible when he returned from Haverhill. The 
farmer began to have a suspicion of the circum- 
stances of her choking and the cause, and was 
thoroughly minded to let her suffer, but as his wife 
urged him to go and not incur the resentment of 
the old woman, he said : " Vou go over to her and 
see what condition she is in, and watch her very 
closely for fifteen minutes bv the clock, and I will 



follow you when I have eaten my supper." She 
went back to the old woman, who was eroaninaf 
and gasping for breath in great agony, and told 
her that her husband would arrive in fifteen 
minutes, and then sat down to watch her. In 
about ten minutes the witch became perfectly 
quiet and free from pain. Meanwhile the farmer 
had gone to the barn, removed the witch-hazel 
withe from the spire and clevis pin, and was 
on his way to see the old woman. It did not 
require any words to explain what she desired of 
him, and he was not slow in giving her to under- 
stand that he had suspected her of evil influences 
before, and that she had borne that reputation, 
that now he had full proof of her witchcraft, and 
that although at his wife's urgent entreaty he had 
taken compassion upon a witch this once, she might 
be cautious about ])laying any of her tricks upon 
him again, for if she persisted he should certainly 
strangle her at the next attempt. 




ROGER G. SULLIVAN S RLSIDLNCE, MANCHF.STtR. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



287 



EDWARD P. JOHNSON, son of Jesse and 
Rehekah (Walker) Johnson, was born in 
Manchester, at Goffe's Falls, seventy-six years ago. 
Receivinij his education in the public and in 
private schools, he became a shoe cutter, and for 
thirty years was engaged in the shoe manufac- 
turing business, developing and conducting the 
extensive affairs of Boyd & Corv. Having 
achieved great suc- 
cess in this industry, 
he went into business 
for himself as a coal 
merchant in t h c 
fifties, and for nearlv 
forty years his affairs 
prospered. He car- 
ried on the business 
alone for a number 
of years, and then, 
taking in a partner, 
the E. P. Johnson 
Coal Company was 
incorporated, with 
Mr. Johnson as presi- 
dent. The corpora- 
tion soon became 
one of the most im- 
portant m the citv, 
owning or control- 
ling a large amount 
of real estate, ac- 
quired by Mr. John- 
son's able and skilful 
m a n a g e m e n t. Al- 
though an ardent 
R e p u I) 1 i c a n , Mr. 
Johnson was never 
an extreme partisan, 

and he possessed the confidence of his fellow citi- 
zens regardless of party lines. He never sought 
public office but was elected to the board of 
aldermen, where his marked business abilitv made 
him extremely useful in the management of muni- 
cipal affairs, and where he served on important 
committees. When he had nearly reached the 
age of three score and ten, he was chosen, without 
his solicitation, and bv a handsome majority, as 
member of the state legislature. Mr. Johnson 




EDWARD P. JOHNSON. 



took a deep interest in fraternal organizations 
and was the founder of the tribe of Red Men in 
this city, having been initiated into the order in 
Portsmouth. In 1881 he organized Passaconaway 
Tribe ; he was also Great Sachem of the tribes of 
New Hampshire and was often a delegate to 
various conventions of the order in different parts 
of the countrv. Mr. Johnson was likewise promi- 
nent in the councils 
of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, being a member 
of Hillsborough 
Lodge for nearly 
forty years. He was 
also a member of the 
Chieftains' League. 
Mr. Johnson was 
twice married, the 
first time to Miss 
Martha A. Bartlett, 
bv whom he had 
three children, all of 
whom are now de- 
ceased. His second 
marriage was to Miss 
Abbie A. Demary, in 
1870, Rev. Thomas 
Borden jjcrforming 
the ceremony. Mr. 
f o h n s o n ' s death 
which occurred in 
1892, was mourned 
by a wide circle of 
friends and business 
associates. His 
wndow survives hiin. 



/^ADWALLADER JONES was one of the 
^-^ most noted wags of old Nutfield even in his 
boyhood days. One Saturday at a catechising 
class Rev. Mr. McGregor put the question to him, 
"How manv covenants are there?" and Cad 
replied : " Two ; a covenant of works and one of 
grace, and the former was broken." ■■ Where was 
it broken ? " asked the minister. " I don't exactly 
know," said Cad, "but I think it snapped '■^{i in 
the middle." 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, DERRY DEPOT. 



THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of Derry teen, — eiai^ht men and six women, — as follows: 

was orajanized Oct. lo, 1880. Previous to Rev. A. S. Stowell, Mrs. Ella Stowell, Jonathan 

that time, for several years, religious services had May, Mrs. Mary May, Henry S. Wheeler, Mrs. 

been held at the Depot Village by members of H. Maria Wheeler, Margaret H. Morse, Mary 

different denominations. There had been a union Morse, Ira Goodwin, Joseph White, Leonard H. 

Sunday school, and also preaching more or less Pillsbury, Mrs. Evelyn S. Pillsbury, Abram Evans, 

regularly by such clergymen as could be secured Warren C. Evans. All of these persons brought 

from week to week. Rev. George W. Kinney, letters of dismission from Baptist churches of 

then pastor of the Baptist church at Hudson, was which they were formerly members, excepting the 

the first, perhaps, to call attention to Derry Depot last two, who were received on experience. The 

as a favorable location for the planting of a church first officers of the church were: Pastor, Rev. 

of that faith and order. Rev. Alfred S. Stowell of A. S. Stowell ; deacons, Jonathan May, Joseph 



Salem also interested 
himself in the enter- 
prise, and after receiv- 
ing encouragement 
from different leading 
clergymen of the state, 
these two gentlemen 
began at once to see 
what could i)c done 
toward the accom- 
plishing of tlieir pur- 
pose. D c r r y w a s 
visited for the purpose 
of learning the num- 
ber of Baptists living 
there, and their feel- 
ing toward the pro- 
posed movement. 
From these, as well 




FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, DERRY DEPOT. 



White; clerk, L. H. 
Pillsbury; treasurer, 
H. S. Wheeler. This 
"body of baptized be- 
lievers " was formally 
recognized as a regu- 
lar Baptist church by 
an ecclesiastical coun- 
cil called for that pur- 
pose, and held Nov. 
17, 1880. Tuesday, 
Sept. 14, 1880, a week- 
night prayer meeting 
was instituted, which 
has been continued 
until the present time, 
being still held on 
that evening of the 
week. Realizingf that 



as from others who were not Baptists, they soon a house of worship would be needed, the 
received such encouragement as to warrant pastor, with wise forethought, secured on his own 
immediate action, and accordingly, on Feb. 29, responsibility a building lot for that purpose, 
1880, the first service was held by Mr. Kinney, paying $400 for it. The same lot, without build- 
under the auspices of the New Hampshire Baptist ings, would be worth now more than $1,000. May 
State Convention. These services were continued 10, 1882, a "meeting of citizens interested in the 
from week to week, with preaching by Revs, erection of a church edifice at Derry Depot " was 
Kinney, Stowell, and A. Sherwin of Manchester, called, at which over $1,700 was subscribed. A 
until Aug. 15, when Mr. Stowell, having finished few weeks later a disastrous fire swept through the 
his pastorate at Salem, assumed full charge of the village, destroying much valuable property, and 
work. The first Sunday evening service was held Smith's Hall, where the little church had been 
August 29, and the Sunday school was organized holding its meetings, was burned to the ground. 
Dec. 26. Mr. Stowell at once began the work of For a few weeks the services were held in the 
organizing a church, which was accomplished district schoolhouse, but it was not long before 
Oct. 10, with a constituent membership of four- several of the members of the church had united 

28S 



U'lLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



289 



in erecting a building for temporary use, in which 
the meetings were held until July, 1883, when the 
basement of the new house of worship was ready 
for use, and in the following spring the auditorium 
was finished and dedicated May 14, 1884. A clock 
and bell were afterwards placed in the tower, and 
a baptistry has since been added. In 1890, a two- 
story house for a parsonage was erected on the 
churcii lot adjoining the meeting-house. In 1892 
the interior of the church was beautifully frescoed 
and the outside newly painted. 

During the fifteen years of its history the 
church has had but two pastors. Rev. A. S. 




REV. J. H. NICHOLS. 

Stowell served until Oct. 13, 1889, a period of 
nine years, when he closed his pastorate to accept 
that of a church at Montville, Conn. Nov. i i of 
the same year the church called Rev. J. H. Nichols 
to become its pastor, and he assumed the pastorate 
Dec. I. The follnwing named gentlemen have 
served the church as deacons : Jonathan May, 
Joseph White, James Greeley, Henry S. Wheeler, 
iMcd S. Pillsbury, and Cah'in H. Bradford, the 
three latter now holding that office. L. H. Pills- 
bury, F. S. Pillsbury, A. E. French, and Marshall 
Martin have served as clerk. H. S. Wheeler has 
been treasurer from the organization of the church. 



and L. H. Pillsbury superintendent of the Sunday 
school for the same length of time. 

A good degree of prosperity has attended the 
church from the beginning. Ninety-eight persons 
have been received by baptism upon profession of 
faith, and forty by letter and experience, making, 
with the fourteen constituent members, a total of 
one hundred and fifty-two who have been con- 
nected with the church. According to the annual 
reports, nearly $21,000 have been raised for home 
objects and benevolent purposes. 



jVIUTFIELD MILLERITES.— No single year 
■I ^ in the history of Londonderry has made a 
deeper and more lasting impression upon the 
memories of the older inhabitants than the notable 
year of 1843, when the end of the world and the 
second advent of the Saviour were expected by a 
class of people called Millerites from their belief 
in the calculations and doctrines of a celebrated 
leader whose name was William Miller (born in 
Massachusetts in 1781; died in 1849). The 
movement in Londonderry began early in the 
summer of that year, in a series of cottage lectures 
that attracted one famil\- after another with 
rapidly increasing force and inlluence until cot- 
tages were not sufficient for the attendance, and 
camps had to be set up for their accommodation. 
In the beginning of the season only Sabbath days 
were devoted to these lectures, accompanied by 
prayer and singing and conducted by outside 
exhorters or leaders, but gradually the solemnity 
of the doctrine and the seriousness of the con- 
verts demanded more time for preparation to meet 
the dire catastrophe that was daily coming nearer, 
and the evenings of the week days were devoted 
to lecture, prayer and singing at the various houses 
where the interest was deepest. On the Sabbath 
a long service was conducted in the open air near 
some residence, where the leaders and visitors 
from adjoining towns were entertained before and 
after the services. 

As the summer wore away, interest in these 
meetings increased to such intensity that the 
crowds of people who assembled could not give 
attention to business of any other kind, and per- 



ago 



WILLET'S BOOK OF" NUTFIELD. 



manent camp-meetings were organized with tents, 
furniture, provisions, and sleeping accommoda- 
tions and exciting addresses. Continual conver- 
sions followed by day and by night. Carpenters 
abandoned their occupation, leaving unfinished 
buildings. Farmers neglected their corn, and 
potatoes remained in the field, and cattle were 
allowed to run at large. In most of these cases of 
abandonment and neglect the neighbors interposed 
to save the wanton waste of property. In the 
instance of the entire abandonment of crops 
related of the enthusiastic Ralph Nevins, who 
lived on the farm afterward owned and occupied 
by Jonathan Dana on the westerly side of Beaver 
brook, the selectmen of the town went to him one 
day and said : "Mr. Nevins, we understand you do 
not intend to gather your corn this year." He 
replied : " I have more important business on 
hand." The selectmen added: "Then we will 
attend to the gathering of your crops, Mr. Nevins, 
so that they shall not be wasted." The devoted 
believer tried to remonstrate with them upon the 
folly of wasting their time in gathering earthly 
treasures when the consummation of all things 
was so very nigh, but they were not moved by his 
arguments, and soon afterwards sent men to do 
the harvesting. 

Early in the summer cottage lectures were 
delivered at the houses of Ralph Nevins, Joshua 
Austin, west of the Mammoth road, near Henry 
Crowell's residence (the widow of Joshua Austin 
still lives on the old place) ; at John Morse's house, 
where Joseph Eaton now lives; at Stephen 
Morse's house, which was the old Joseph Paige 
place, where were numerous other earnest believers 
and workers; at Jonathan Webster's house, that 
stood on the hill eastward of the Hardy place; at 
the Messer house, where the widow of Cvrus 
Messer lived, between Albert Tenney and John 
Merrill's homes, and at Jimmv Lindfist's house, 
on the road from Cheney village to Windham. 
Cheney village was the name applied to a cluster 
of buildings formerly located a little west of Derry 
Depot. William Cheney was a notorious trader 
of horses, and it is alleged that during the time 
when the Millerites were encamped in great num- 
bers around the Ralph Nevins buildings, holding 
services day after day, he exhibited some of his 



horses to the preachers who came from other 
towns and needed good roadsters, and by exchange 
and barter, enriched himself to the amount of 
three or four hundred dollars at the expense of 
the ministers. At a large camp-meeting held in 
the woods west of the Messer house, called the 
Watts lot, the good order of the Millerite services 
was disturbed by the boisterous conduct of some 
of the townspeople who attended the meetings 
mainly from curiosity, and being rather inclined to 
humor, saw something ridiculous in the devout 
Millerites shouting "Glory" when the preacher 
happened to say something that appealed to their 
feelings, and shouted also with pertinacity "Go it !" 
Three of these noisy persons, Joel Annis, George 
Boyce, and David Barker, were arrested and taken 
to court at the Lower village to answer to the 
charge of disturbing the meeting. The defendants 
m the case procured the services of Squire John 
Porter, and the Adventist plaintiff in the case em- 
ployed Squire Joseph Gregg. In the sequel the three 
disturbers of the peace paid each a small fine as 
penalty and were sworn to keep good order in the 
future. To make the keeping of good order more 
certain afterward, the sheriff, Samuel Marshall, was 
ordered to be present at the meetings. The 
Adventists, as they were also named, held meetings 
in the woods of Robert Jeffers, and some of the 
citizens retaliated upon the preachers there for the 
arrest of the three young men bv arresting some 
of them who sold hymn books, familiarh- termed 
Penny Royal Hymns, or other trilles, on the 
Sabbath day, and they were taken to court and 
fined. One of the more widely known preachers 
of the Millerites was Joseph Moore, a man highly 
respected throughout a long life. From the fact 
of his having been engaged in the mills at spinning 
previous to his becoming a preacher, he was very 
commonly spoken of as Spinner Joe Moore. His 
widow and daughter are still living in London- 
derry. Robert Henry Perham was converted to 
this faith. There was also Father Dustin, who 
lived on the turnpike above the village, and Father 
Hazelton, who was at the time pastor of the 
Methodist society in Derry village. His conver- 
sion led him to preach the doctrine of an imme- 
diate coming of Christ and the conflagration of 
the world, which created great excitement and for 



W/LLJZrs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



291 



a time threatened to dismember the Methodist 
body in Derry. 

The actions of some of the believers were 
extremely ludicrous, in spite of the seriousness of 
their faith. Jonathan Webster, at a camp-meeting 
held around Joshua Austin's premises, related to 
the audience that he had a revelation to communi- 
cate from a toad that spoke to him in the field 
where he was digging potatoes, to the purport that 
the final catastrophe of the end of the world had 
been deferred for a little longer to give a farther 
opportunitv for conversions. It caused great 
merriment from the fact that he went without 
shoes in summer, and once, while hoeing in 
the field, had mistaken his own toe for a toad 
sticking up through the dirt, and struck it a blow 
with his hoe, much to his pain and chagrin. From 
the time of this revelation the name of the medium 
was inseparably linked to his surname. The 
interest in these large camp-meetings subsided 
with the approach of cold weather, and while the 
more ardent continued to labor, it was deemed 
inexpedient to attempt the formation of any per- 
manent orofanization in the town. 



ROSECRANS W. PILLSBURY, son of Col. 
William S. Pillsbury, was born in London- 
derry, Sept. 18, 1863. His early education was 





RUSliCRANS W. PILLSBURV. 



R. W. I'lLLSBURV S RESIDLNCE, LONDONDERRY. 

received in the public schools, and after being 
prepared for college at Pinkerton Academy, he 
entered Dartmouth with the class of 1885. Ill 
health, however, compelled him at the end of the 
first year to abandon thoughts of a collegiate 
course. After recovering his health he became 
bookkeeper in his father's shoe factory at Derry 
and remained there for a time. A mercantile 
career was not to his liking, however, and he 
determined upon the study of law, entering first 
the office of Drury & Peaslee in Manchester, and 
later the Law School of Boston University. He 
is now engaged in the practice of his profession at 
Derry Depot. Mr. Pillsbury has frequently been 
a member of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee, and in 18S9 was the youngest member of 
the Constitutional Convention. Go\'. Smith 
offered him the position of judge advocate general 
on his personal staff', but Mr. Pillsbury declined 
the honor. In 1885 Mr. Pillsbury was married to 
Miss Annie E. Watts of Manchester, and two 
children have been added to the family. 



292 



il7LLE7''S book: OF NCrTFIELD. 



HON. HORATIO FRADD, son of Richard 
and Elizabeth (Warren) Fradd, was born in 
Cornwall, Enijland, May 17, 1832. In 1849 he 
came to America and settled in Boston, finding 
employment at his trade as brass founder. About 
five years later, in 1854, he came to Manchester 
and opened a hat and cap store in the Merrimack 
block, at that time one of the few brick business 
structures in the new 
city. Four years 
afterward he went 
into the grocery busi- 
ness with James A. 
Stearns, and subse- 
quently established 
himself in the same 
line of trade at the 
corner of Main and 
Granite streets, in 
Piscataquog. There 
he has since re- 
mained, occasionally 
changing partners, 
but always progress- 
mg. He is today 
the oldest grocer in 
Manchester and is 
still active in super- 
intending his affairs, 
although his nephew 
and partner, Chas. H. 
Fradd, has charge of 
the details of the busi- 
ness. He has always 
been a Republican, 
and the voters of 
Ward eight have 
shown their confi- 
dence in him by the gift of many public offices. 
He was overseer of the poor in 1863-64; assessor 
during the three following years; alderman for 
three years ; member of the house of representatives 




HUN. HURATIO FRADD. 



\\\ 1872-7 



16 



member of the last state constitu- 
tional convention, and state senator in 1889-90. 
In the senate he served on the committees on 
fisheries, roads and bridges, labor, and other mat- 
ters. One of the substantial men of Manchester, 
always upright and straightforward, he has made 



friends in all walks of life. In 1853 Mr. Fradd 
was married to Mary E. Cayzer of Boston, and 
one child, Lizzie M., now the wife of Joseph R. 
Fradd of Manchester, was born to them. Mrs. 
Fradd dying in 1872, Mr. Fradd, in 1877, married 
Jennie McDonald of New York state. Five chil- 
dren have been the fruit of this union : Edwin H., 
Ralph D., Annie M., Norman W., and James M. 

These make a happy 
home on Dover 
street, West Man- 
chester, where the 
father has lived for 
more than thirty 
years. They attend 
the Main-Street Con- 
gregational church 
and take a leading 
part in local society 
affairs. Mr. Fradd 
is a member of the 
Royal Arcanum and 
III U n c a n o o n u c 
Lodge of Odd Fel- 
lows. 

THE first tramp 
on record in 
Nutfield was Daniel 
Ml. Aferson. He 
seems to have given 
the citizens a good 
deal of annoyance, 
for in I 738 they voted 
in town meeting 
" that the selectmen 
provide irons to 
secure Daniel Mt. 
Aferson from hurting or disturbing an)' of the 
inhabitants of I lie town. Each inhabitant shall 
lodge said Mt. Aferson 24 hours and then pass 
him to the next neighbor — penalty 10 shillings." 
Eight years before this, in 1730, the town voted 
" to let Hugh Wilson be prosecuted for an idler, 
as the law directs." It is probable that Hugh 
reformed and went to work, for there is no record 
of any prosecution against him. He was related 
to one of the original proprietors of the town. 



STARK AT BUNKER HILL, AT BENNINGTON, AND AT HOME, 



STARK AT BUNKER HILL.— John Stark's born, one of his captains: "When we reached 

services to the cause of American freedom Charlestown Neck we found two regiments halted 

on the memorable 17th of June, 1775, can scarcely in consequence of a heavy enfilading fire across it of 

be overestimated. Although the fascinating story round, bar and chain shot from the frigate Lively, 

of the battle of Bunker Hill has been told and from lloating batteries anchored in Charles river, 

retold a hundred times, it never loses its interest and a floating battery lying in the river Mystic, 

to the sons of New Hampshire because of the role Major McClary went forward and said to the com- 

which Granite State men played in that great mandcrs that if they did not intend to move on, 

struggle. According to the best authorities, he wished them to open and let our regiment pass. 

they formed about two thirds of all the American This was immediately done. My companv bein"- 

forces engaged in the conflict, and had there in front, I marched by the side of Col. Stark, who 

been any deficiency in their numbers, their energy, was moving with a very deliberate pace. I sut- 

efficiency, and freshness would have counter- gested the propriety of quickening the march of 

balanced it. During the forenoon of that day the regiment, that it might sooner be relieved 

Stark's regiment was ordered to the relief of from the galling cross-fire of the enemy. With a 

Prescott. The men were without powder, look peculiar to himself, he fixed his eyes upon me 

It was too valuable to be trusted to new levies and observed : ' Dearborn, one fresh man in action 

until they went into action. Stark's troops is wortii two fatigued ones,' and continued to 

marched at once to their arsenal, and each man advance in the same cool and collected manner." 

received a spare flint, fifteen bullets and a gill cup When Stark reached the battlefield he saw that 

of powder for his flask or horn. Their fowling- the British troops, now reinforced, were preparing 

pieces had few or no bayonets, and were of dif- to advance, and were marshalling a large body of 

ferent calibres. A little time was lost in fitting or light infantry and grenadiers to turn the left Hank 

exchanging bullets or in hammernig them down of the Americans. Col. Knowlton and his 120 

to suit their guns. By one o'clock Stark's regi- men from Connecticut were posted at the south 

ment was on the march and was joined on its way end of the grass fence. Stark saw at a glance the 

by the Third New Hampshire, under Col. James point of danger, and directed his men to extend 

Reed, and they bore to Prescott's weary men the the grass fence to the beach on the Mystic and 

important accession of at least nine iiundrcd hardy rear a stone wall across the beach to the water, 

troops in homespun dress, without a cartridge, and taking stones from the beach and adjacent fences, 

with few bayonets, but with some experience in He then placed his large force in three rows 

war under veteran officers. Before two o'clock behind the fence and wall, directing the first rank 

Stark, with his regiment, had reached the narrow with the best marksmen to fire, and the second 

causeway which crossed Charlestown Neck, less and rear ranks to load rapidly as they knelt upon 

than a mile from the redoubt. His march and the ground; then, stepping in front of his line, he 

bearing on that day are thus described by Dear- planted a stake sixty yards in advance of his fence, 

293 



294 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



and returninij to his men, told them that he should 
shoot the first man who fired before the British 
passed the stake. At half-past three o'clock 
British reinforcements landed, and Lord Howe 



New Hampshire provincials in homespun clothes 
to fly at the first onset. But they remained behind 
the fence and wall as still as death. The British 
passed the stake planted by Stark, and then came 




PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, SHOWING THE STAND MADE BY STARK S AND REED S NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENTS. 

Explanation of the Plw.— At the lop appixrs tlia Mystic River. At the riglit is Moulton's (or Morton's) Point, where the British troops first landed and formed. Ettending 
downward from the sliore of the Mystic, on the left, appear the rail fences, behind which were posted in their order Col. Stark's New Hampshire regiment, Col. Reed's New Hampshire 
regim-nt, and Capt. KnowUon's ConnecticLit companies. In front of the rail fences are represented the eleven companies of British Grenadiers, in line, advancing to the attack ; and on 
the beach of the Mystic River the eleven companies of the British Light Infantry, marching with a narrow front, in their attempt to flank the American left. The numbers of the regiments 
to which the Light Infantry companies severally belonged are given in the figures, as in the plan of De Berniere. Ihe Light Infantry company of the Tliirty-Fifih Regiment appears both 
oit the river beach and on the higher bank at the right of the Grenadi ers. It is supposed that in one attack it occupied one position and in the other attack a different one. Below the rail 
fences and a little at their right appear the earthworks of Col. Prescott. Chartestown Neck is not represented on the plan. It would be much further to the left. 



arrayed his men for the attack. At least 3000 a fire, so intense, so continuous, and so deadly, 

men moved forward to assail the breastworks and that officers and men went down before it. They 

the fence. They were the flower of the English rallied again and again, only to recoil. Nearly 

soldiery, and doubtless expected those half-armed every officer on Howe's staff was killed or 



W/LLET'S BOOK OF NUTFJELD. 



295 



wounded. Stark and Reed lost but ninety men, 
but in front of the one company from Derryfield, 
under Capt. John Moore, at the stone wall on the 
beach, ninety-six dead bodies of the foe were 
counted. Stark's forces were assailed by the 
Welch Fusileers, a crack regiment that had fought 
at Minden with distinction. Thev entered the 
field at Bunker Hill seven hundred strong, and the 



next morning only eighty-three answered at roll- 
call. The ammunition of the Americans was fast 
givinsr out, and retreat soon became imperative. 
With a few rounds more of ammunition, Stark and 
Reed might have turned the fortunes of the day. 
They brought off, however, their forces in good 
condition, and returned like victors from the field. 
(See " Nuttield in the Revolution," page 103). 




SrARK AT UUNKK.R HILL. 



296 



WILLEy-'S nOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



STARK AT BENNINGTON.— As Stark and 
the New Hampshire forces had prevented the 
battle of Bunker Hill from resulting disastrously 
to the American cause, and almost succeeded in 
turning the defeat into victory, so, two years later, 



every quarter threatened. The delegates to the colonial Assem- 
bly of New Hampshire, stimulated by the spirit and liberality of 
John Langdon, their presiding officer, voted to raise two 
brigades, the command of one for the immediate exigency being 
ofTered to Stark. 

No time was to be lost. A messenger was dispatched to 



it was again the same leader with New Hampshire bring the retired officer before the committee of military affairs, 

men who contributed most materially to the defeat =^"'^ ^'^^ command was tendered to him. It was accepted on 
T- .1 „ u 1 Ui- ...1 .L ^1 condition that the troops should act independently of Congress 

For there can be no doubt that the , „. . ' , , * ■ • 

or of officers appomted by that power. A commission as 

brigadier was therefore 



of Burgoyne 
success of the Ameri- 
can arms in the 
battles near Benning- 
ton led to the subse- 
quent surrender of 
the British at Sara- 
top^a, which was one 
of the turning points 
in tlie great struggle 
of the colonies for 
liberty. The follow- 
ing brief chapter in 
American Rcvolu- 
tionarv annals, deal- 
mg with Stark's vic- 
tories near Benning- 
ton, has been written 
by H. W. Herrick, 
a recogni/A'd histori- 
cal authority : 

In the spring of 1777, 
Stark, while engaged in 
recruiting and forwarding 
his regiment to Ticon- 
deroga, learned that his 
name had been dropped 
by Congress from the list 
of colonels recommended 
for promotion. This was 
the second indignity of 




STARK AT liENNINGTON. 



issued, giving Stark dis- 
cretionary powers to act in 
connection with the main 
army or independently, 
as circumstances might 
require. Recruiting for 
three months" service was 
now carried forward 
briskly : a day sufficed to 
enlist and organize a com- 
pany in the larger towns, 
and Gen. Stark was 
enabled in about a week 
to start with a large por- 
tion of his force for the 
rendezvous at Charles- 
town, on the Connecticut 
river. Two weeks only 
had passed since the first 
alarm from the cajitv.re of 
T.conderoga, and \ et Stark 
was organizing and drilling 
his force for action. The 
last week in luly he sent 
foiuard a delachment of a 
few hundred men to the 
sujjport of W ainer's broken 
regiment of Continentals 
at Manchester — a town 
twenty-two miles north of 
Bennington. On the 4th 
of August a scout of one 
hundred men, under Col. 
Emerson, was sent to 



the kind offered him since 

the opening of the war. Conscious of patriotic molixes and of the valley of Otter Creek, north of Manchester, with directions 
success in his position, he ascribed the action of Congress to the to rendezvous at the latter ])lace, whither Stark himself marched 

with the remainder of his force, after leaving two hundred men 
at Charlestown as a garrison. The column, in its march across 
the Crreen Mountains, was augmented by militia under Col. 
Williams. 

The Vermont Council of Safety, a committee of twehe, 



jealousy of enemies, and declared that honor forbade his remain- 
ing any longer in the service. Notwithstanding I he a|)])eals 
m.ade to him to remain in the army, he resigned his commission 
and retired. iDut he did not relax his efforts as a citizen in the 
])atriot service : he sent his own sons to the field, and urged on 



enlistments for the army. Four months changed the asjiect of s:tting at Bennington, had acted with such vigor in recruiting 

affairs in the Northern military department. The fall of Ticon- and correspondence that Gen. Schuyler anticipated great 

deroga, the repulse of Hubb.ardton, the exposed situation of the assistance from the militia. When Stark, therefore, arrived at 

young settlements in Vermont, and tlie rumors of the advance Manchester, he found Gen. Lincoln, acting under orders 

o'" Burjoyne through eastern New England, spread alarm in from Schuyler, ready to march the whole force to "the Sprouts," 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



297 



a rendezvous at the mouth of the Mohawk. High words passed 
between the commanders, and Stark, showing that his commis- 
sion gave him plenary powers, flatly refused to leave Bennington 
uncovered. He, howevei, wrote to the commander of the 




r 



Northern army oft'cring to cu-u|i(jratc in any manner with him 
when the immediate danger to Bennington was over. Lincoln 
left only two days before the battle, to report his failure. 

Rumors of a foray by Burgoyne in the direction of the Con- 
tinental stores at Bennington now became frequent ; Stark, 
therefore, on the 8th of August, left Manchester with his brigade 
for the former place. His whole force was but about nine hun- 
dred, the scouts under Emerson not having arrived, and several 
companies being detained at Charlestown. Col. ^Varner now sent 
out a small force under Capt. Chipman, to bring in a quantity 
of muskets left stacked in the forest by the enemy near Hub- 
bardton at the breaking up of Hale's regiment in the 
retreat : then leaving the remainder of his force to 
await orders, he went forward with Stark to assist by 
his counsel and knowledge of the country. 

Bennington was at this time a frontier town 
having about 1,500 inhabitants. Tt was named in 
compliment to Gov. Benning Wentworth of New 
Hamjjshire, under whose auspices it was settled 
about twenty years preceding, being then included 
in the towns surveyed on the disputed boundary line 
between New York and the New Hampshire Grants. 
The Council of Safety had been in session here about 
a month, having their headquarters at the Green 
Mountain House, afterward better known as the 
Catamount Tavern — a name given it from the 
stuffed skin of a catamount placed on the summit of 
the pole supporting the landlord's business sign. 
The council chamber of the committee was a busy 
place ; Stark was in daily consultation with the members, and 
scouts were several times a day sent out on all roads leading to 
the north and west. The town was filled with militia, two 
regiments of V'ermonters being in process of organization. 

29 



On the 9th of August Stark encamped in the west part of 
the town, a few miles from the village, but soon judged it ])ru- 
dent, from the report of scouts, to move to a point better 
adapted for attack, on the Walloomsack river, nearly north from 
his former position, and near tie road leading from 
Bennington to Cambridge, N. Y. This was hardly 
accomplished, on the 13th, when he received the 
information of the arrival of a force of about one hun- 
dred and fifty Indians at Cambridge, twelve miles distant. 
A force of two hundred men, under Lieut. -Col. Gregg, 
was immediately sent against the enemy. At night a 
courier arrived with the intelligence that the Indians were 
but the advance guard of a force of the enemy advancing, 
with artillery, under Col. Baum, assisted by Gov. Skene. 
Swift couriers were now sent to Manchester for War- 
ner's and Emerson's men, and tidings forwarded to 
Bennington, si.x miles distant, for the immediate help of 
all the militia in the vicinity. Leaving a camp guard, 
Stark, on the morning of the fourteenth, moved his 
whole force westward across the Walloomsack, on the 
road to Cambridge, to meet the enemy ; but he had 
advanced only a short distance when he met Gregg 
falling back in good order before a superior force half 
a mile distant. A line of battle was immediately 
formed ; seeing which, the enemy stopped pursuit and began 
manoeuvring with the evident purpose of avoiding a collision. 
Failing to draw the efremy onward, and the ground being 
unsuitable for general action. Stark retired his force a mile and 
encamped, intending to attack when the reinforcements came up 
the following day. 

Scouts soon reported that the enemy was encamping west 
of the state line, on the banks of the little river, at a point easily 
fordable. At this place a bridge and si.x or eight rude log 
houses in a clearing gave them some advantages of shelter and 
position. The accompanying map, drawn by direction of ex- 




OLD CONSTITUTION HOUSE, WINDSOR, VT. 



Gov. Hall of Bennington, gives an accurate view of the battle- 
ground and camps. In this position, with scouts occupying the 
neutral ground, the belligerents slept on their arms. 

The morning of the 15th brought a terrible storm of wind 



298 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



and rain, which the parties were in no condition to meet. Fight- 
ing in suchpouring torrents was out of the question. Bauni's force, 
after a semblance of parade, cowered for partial shelter in the 
log-houses : and Stark, after forming flanking parties, withdrew 
them and sheltered his men as well as possible in their brush 
huts and under the lee of fences. Tents there were none. 

Surrounded by forests and concealed from each other by 
intervening hills, the opposing forces sent out numerous scouts 
who were lurking in the wet brush most of the day. The flint- 
lock muskets, with all care possible, were so drenched that few 
would explode, and by noon Eraser's marksmen, whom Baum 
had sent over the stream to support the Indians, withdrew to 
the bank and left the ground to the Americans. Our scouts 
now advanced, harried the enemy working on their entrench- 
ments and, with no loss, killed before night about thirty, includ- 
ing two Indians, whose silver 



remained at daybreak on Saturday, the 16th. The Berkshire 
militia had arrived in the night, and their cha])lain. Parson Allen, 
immediately reported at headquarters. Stark had failed to get 
reliable accounts of Breyman's approach, but his energy of 
action saved him from the effects of Baum's confident strategy. 
A plan of attack had been decided in council by Stark, his 
officers, and the Bennington committee, and with the early dawn 
preparations were made to carry it into effect. The rain, after 
fourteen hours' duration, abated in the night, and the morning 
broke clear and pleasant ; not a breath of wind stirred the drip- 
ping vegetation, and the swollen river showed by its turbid 
current the extent of the storm. Both camps were astir betimes 
preparing for the contest. It was a military axiom with Stark 
to strike only with a full preparation : accordingly, orders were 
given for the drying and cleansing of all arms, after which rations 



j;ht as 



ornaments were brou^ 
trophies into camp. 

The scene on the ground 
occupied by Baum was a 
busy one despite the 
weather. The p r e \' i o u s 
evening he had selected 
two hills by the river bank, 
which he proceeded at once 
to fortify, his troops work- 
ing with alacrity in the 
storm. The position was 
about half a mile west of 
the line dividing Vermont 
from New York : the battle 
was thus fought in the latter 
state. The log-houses were 
partially demolished, and 
the lightest timbers, with 
logs cut on the ground, 
were drawn by the artillery 
horses or carried by the 
men to the highest of the 
two hills up the stream and 
placed in position, with 
earth filling the interstices. This was a work of difficulty, as 
often when the earth was banked against the logs, the rain 
would wash it back, rendering the labor fruitless. Nearly half a 
mile down the stream, on the opposite bank, the smaller of the 
hills was being rapidly prepared for the security of Peter's corps 
of Tories, under Col. Pfister. A breastwork was laid of rails, 
after the manner of a Virginia fence, and the whole filled in 
with flax pulled from an adjoining field. Slight defensive works 
were also built to defend the pass of the bridge and the ascent 
on the south of the redoubt. This labor extended far into the 
night of the 15th, when a short respite was given, the marksmen 
being called into the redoubt, and, with no fire to dry the troops, 
such rest taken as could be had with the wild whoops of the 
Indians or an occasional shot coming from the front. At mid- 
night a dispatch from Breyman was received by Baum, stating 
that help would be forthcoming the next dav, Thus affairs 





i«yst*l:U 



.Wr 



" - The First Pjeefmq H[ouse \n. L'f rmon 
TiVst Church of Chrisi,or(^awjed, l)ccemLe»' 3,fp. 17^, 






were served, and a deliberate review held of the condition of 
the troops. 

While these events are occurring, let us take a glance at the 
personal appearance of the belligerents. The American troops 
comprised eight incomplete regiments: five companies from 
Berkshire county. Massachusetts. Col. Simmons ; the Sixth New 
Hampshire, Col. Nichols : the Eleventh New Hani])shire. Col. 
Hobart (incorrectly given Hubbard in the reports) ; the Twelfth 
New Hampshire. Col. Stickney : and a hundred scouts. Col. 
Emerson. Vermont v\'as represented by a small force of militia, 
Col. Williams : a regiment from Bennington and the towns 
adjoining. Col. Brush ; and the Green Mountain Rangers, Col. 
Herrick. The Continentals of Warner, one hundred and forty 
in number, and Emerson's men, were yet several miles distant. 
These organizations were in process of formation, few of them 
being half filled. None had a distinctive uniform except the 



W/LLBT'S BOOK OP NUTFlELD. 



i^i) 



Rangers — a body of Davy Crockett men, dressed in frocks 
with green facings. In the tactics of the forest these Rangers 
were at home, l^eing a good match for the Indians, whose whoop 
they nearly imitated in their night countersign, which was " three 
hoots of an owl." 

The commander of the Americans, with the trusty Warner 
at his side, moved rapidly 
through the camp. He ' 
was in the prime of life, 
f o r t y -nine years old, 
dressed as a Continental 
brigadier, and mounted ; 
on a beautiful brown 
colt. His only staff 
officer was Warner, six- 
teen years his junior ; 
and his medical depart- 
ment numbered but one 
or two surgeons. The 
entire force was about 
1,750, of which New 
Hampshire furnished 
about 1,000 ; X'ermont, 
500: and old Berkshire. 
250. 

Baum's force comprised 
about 1,000. of whom 
I :;o were Indians, 200 
Tories, 100 Eraser's 
marksmen, 100 Canadian 
Rangers, 50 Chasseurs, 
and 370 Riedesel's 
dragoons, or Hessians, 
acting as infantry. The 
British [prisoners and 
dead numbered the next 
day over goo, and Bur- 
goyne's orderly book 
makes his loss in the two 
engagements over 1,200. 
The disposal of Baum's 
force was well made : 
the Tories, or Peter's 
corps, with a small 
])latoon of Hessians, held 
the small hill, the Cana- 
dians were posted in the 
log houses, a few Hes- 
sians were posted in the 
breastworks west of the 

liridge, the chasseurs were at the east declivity of the large hill, 
w^iile the remainder of the Hessians were in the redoubt sur- 
rounded by the Indian scouts in the forest. The German com- 
mander evidently wished to avoid battle ; at half past nine he 
withdrew his outposts, leaving the Indians only in the forest 
to guard against surprise. 

As mid-day approached, the Americans were massed to 




receive orders : the locality was a large field, the entrance to 
which was by sliding bars and tall posts peculiar to the vicinity. 
Stark leaped to the topmost rail, steadied himself by the tall 
post, and harangued his troops in the well-known sentences : 
" Now% my men, yonder are the Hessians : they were bought for 
seven pounds tenpence a man. Are you worth more ? Prove it. 

Tonight the American 
1 tiag floats over yonder 
hill, or Molly Stark sleeps 
a widow ! " Throwing 
knapsacks, jackets, and 
all baggage in heaps, and 
placing a guard over 
them, the force started. 
Col. Herrick's Rangers, 
with the Bennington 
militia, three hundred 
strong, were sent to make 
a detour to Baum's right : 
Col. Nichols, with three 
huntlred and fifty men, 
was sent to the rear of 
the enemy's left — the 
two forces, w'hen joined, 
to make an attack : two 
hundred men, under Col. 
Stickney and Col. Ho- 
bart, including part of 
the Berkshire militia, 
were sent against the 
Tory works with direc- 
tions to keep concealed 
in a corn field near by 
and await the opening of 
the action at Baum's hill. 
Foreseeing that there 
would be close work 
with the Tories, who 
were in citizens' dress, 
like his own force, Stark 
gave directions to the 
attacking party that a 
corn husk in the hat-band 
should be the badge of 
his own men. A guard 
under a sergeant was 
posted near the bridge to 
prevent communication 
between the two wings 
of the enemy during the 
movements of the flanking parties, and the disposal of the forces 
was complete. 

As a cover to his designs, Stark now moved forward his 
reserve and employed the time in marching slowly around a hill 
in full view of the enemy. This seemed to perplex Baum. As 
his servant, Henry Archelaus, afterward said : " He scanned the 
movement with a field-glass, and directed his artillery men to fire 



BENNINGTON BATTLE MONUMENT. 



3O0 



WILLE2''S BOOK OF' NUTFIELD. 



on the column." This cannonade did no great harm, and the 
ruse was continued with a variety of movements for nearly three 
hours. At length, about three o'clock, the flanking parties had 
reached their coveted position and communicated with eacli 




instantly the accident, the Americans, with a cheer along the 
whole line, made a dash for the parapet. No troops could with- 
stand such a tide : it poured in at every angle with an impetu- 
osity that defied resistance. 

Muskets clubbed were opposed to bayonets : sabre and pike 
came into full play. Baum was driven back, unable to use his 
artillery, and all discipline in both forces seemed lost, except 
where the German commander and a few sturdy Hessians 
charged with sabre when unable to load muskets. Part of 
Eraser's marksmen rushed over the parapet and. leaving a few 
of their number dead and wounded, escaped. Baum was 
mortally wounded by a shot, and the force around him, panic- 
struck, fled down the hill to the south, where Stark's forces were 
advancing to meet them. 

The action on the plain below, with the Tories under 
Pfister and the Canadians in the log houses, was but the san- 
guinary counterpart of the scene at the redoubt. At the first 
discharge from Nichols's column the concealed troops rushed 
through the corn, receiving three volleys, which they did not 
deign to return imtil the_\' emerged from their cover upon a field 
of flax at the foot of the breastwork. Here girdled decayed 
trees gave them partial shelter, and behind these some of the 
men placed themselves, while others sought the cover of the 
rank flax and corn. A rapid and continuous fire now com- 
menced on both sides. A small platoon of Hessians in the 
breastwork delivered at rapid intervals their fire, without aim, 
giving way at each discharge to the Tories who. with hanker- 
chiefs tied as turbans, appeared, alternating their volleys rapidly 
u ith the regulars. At the explosion in the large redoubt up the 
stream a charge was made, with a whoop and hurrah, on the 
Tories. It was now corn husk against turban in a desperate 
death-grapple. Musket stocks supplied the place of bayonets 
on both sides. The enemy was pushed back ; Pfister fell. 



RUNNING 
( See pag 



THE 
:.6) 



GAUNTLET. 



other. Nichols was the first to ojien fire. The Indians retired 
before the advancing line, and, panic-struck, fled to the redoubt, 
reporting that the forest was full of Yankees. Seeing the 
columns closing with a tightening coil around the hill, 
the savages dashed through the opening between the two 
detachments in single file, and, yelling like demons, made their 
escape, leaving a few of their number dead or prisoners. As the 
line pressed up to musket range, Baum opened a fire of small 
arms, and brought one of the cannons forward to the angle left 
exposed by the flight of his savage allies. The action became 
hot on both sides, but the assailants being sheltered by trees 
and brush, received little injury from the Hessian fire, delivered 
breast-high, without aim. New developments and attacks now 
rapidly ensued in every cjuarter ; the discharge of musketry was 
rapid, continuous, and obstinately maintained for nearly an hour, 
when an explosion occurred in the redoubt that shook the hill 
by its violence, sending blinding smoke and flying fragments 
among the combatants. Appalled at the detonation, there was a 
momentary lull among both parties. The tumbril, or ammuni- 
tion cart, of the Hessians had exploded. Comprehending 




CATAMOUNT TAVERN, BENNINGTON, VT. 

mortally wounded, and the remnant around him called for 
quarter. The Canadians, seeing the capture of the two strong- 
holds, surrendered with the chasseurs, who, hemmed in, made 
little or no resistance. The first fight was won. 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



301 



A hasty disposal was made of the prisoners. The Tories, 
numbering about one hundred and sixty, were tied by pairs to a 
leading rope, with a horse attached ; the remaining captives, 
about four hundred and fifty, were permitted the honors of war, 
being marched in close ranks with a strong flank guard to Ben- 
nington. Here they were quartered in the church. 

It was now nearly six o'clock. Stark and Warner hastened 
to the redoubt. Baum, attended by his faithful servant Henry 
and a Hessian surgeon, was being removed from the field. 
Looking around at the fearful work made in the redoubt, Stark 
remarked that the Americans had fought like hell-hounds. 
"Truly," said Baum, '• they fought more like hell-hounds than 



Col. Safford and Major Rann. Halting a few moments at the 
river to take a hasty draught and fill their canteens, the troops 
pressed forward to meet the new danger. Every available man 
was hurried to the front. 

Skene had been posted by Baum about mid-day at the 
Sancoic Mill to communicate with Breyman and hurry forward 
the relief column. As the artillery in the redoubt had been 
playing on Stark's reserve for several hours, Skene appears to 
have taken the din of the battle for a continuance of the can- 
nonade. Posted on the line of retreat of the few who escaped, 
It seems impossible that the guard at the mill should be in igno- 
rance of the issue of the engagement ; but Skene afterward averred 




HOME OF ELIZABETH B. ST.A.RK. GEN. STARK S GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER, MANCHESTER. 



soldiers." Baum and Pfister were taken to the same house, a 
mile distant, in Shaftsbury, where both died the following day. 
The Hessian commander has always been held in great respect. 
The best surgical care and nursing failed to save him ; but 
friend and foe uniformly testified that a braver man than 
Frederick Baum never lived. 

The force now remaining on the field were somew^hat 
separated. Random firing was heard on the Cambridge road, 
in the vicinity of Sancoic Mill, two miles distant, and tidings soon 
came that a body of Hessians, six or seven hundred in number, was 
advancing, with two cannon. Nearly at the same moment the 
drums of Warner's regiment announced its advance, with Emer- 
son's scouts from Bennington, the column being led by Lieut. - 



that he knew not, when Breyman arrived, that Baum's fate had 
already been decided. He accordingly pressed the innocent 
Breyman on to the rescue. 

Groups of militia now appeared in the undergrowth near 
the road to the left of the Hessians ; Skene declared them royal- 
ists, and galloped his horses into an intervening clearing, and 
hailed them. The answer was a volley of bullets. Instantly the 
column was halted, the cannon brought up to the front, and the 
whole force deployed across the road. Tiie forest to the right 
and left now revealed bodies of militia, and both sides endeavored 
by flanking parties to get the vantage-ground. The Americans 
lacked unity of purpose in tlieir movements, and officers were 
hurrying to and fro trying to form some semblance of a line of 



302 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



battle ; but before this could be accomplished the troops were 
obliged to fall back. When they had thus been pressed for half 
a mile, an officer from Warner's corps dashed among them, 
entreating them to hold out, for help was just at hand. Hardly 
were the words spoken ere a grape-shot tore the mouth of his 
horse ; but notwithstanding the plunging of the animal, he kept 
his seat and urged on the wavering line. In a moment Warner's 
and Emerson's men. with 
strong flank guards, ap- 
peared advancing in line 
of battle. This was the 
nucleus wanted as a gather- 
ing point ; it was at once 
made available, and a 
most obstinate and bloody 
contest ensued. A dash 
was made, and one of 
Breyman's cannon cap- 
tured ; a countercharge, 
and it was retaken. Our 
forces were pressed back 
to within three quarters 
of a mile of the captured 
redoubt ; but the earnest 
efforts of Stark and Warner 
in bringing up Baum's 
captured cannon with 
more troops now gave 
strength for a brilliant 
charge, in which Breyman 
again lost a cannon, and 
began to fall back, contest- 
ing every inch of ground. 
In aljout a mile he de- 
ployed into a field on his 
left and made a desperate 
effort to use his remaining 
cannon ; but the active 
militia were there before 
him in the undergrowth, 
skirting the clearing. 
Skene galloped to the 
cannon to encourage the 
artillery men, when his 
horse was shot, and fell, 
entangling his rider. Ex- 
tricating himself, he seized 
one of the artillery horses, 

cut the traces that held the plunging animal to the pole, mounted, 
and fled, leaving behind him the Hessians and Breyman fol- 
lowing in full retreat. The second fight was practically ended, 
and the day was won ! 

The fugitives pressed down the road, some falling in the 
mud before their pursuers, and begging in tiieir foreign speech 
for mercy ; others, entangled by their armor in the bushes, sur- 
rendered to the groups following them. The darkness had now 
become so great that friend could hardly be distinguished from 
foe. The iiursuers were recalled. 




Drill Master. 



HESSIAN SOLDIERS. 



The fruits of the victory were four brass cannon, about one 
thousand stand of arms, two hundred and fifty sabres, eight 
loads of armv supplies, four ammunition wagons, twenty horses, 
and the instruments of two drum corps. Two of the cannon are 
now in the state ca|)itol at Montpelier, one is held at New 
Boston, N. H., and the fourth is lost. The prisoners, aside from 
officers, surgeons, and servants, were about seven hundred, nearly 

one hundred of whom 
were captured in the 
second action ; two hun- 
dred and seven of the 
enemy were found the 
next day (Sunday) dead 
on the field of battle. 
Burgoyne's instructions to 
Baum and Skene were 
among the captured papers 
found on the officers. 

The American loss was 
proportionately small to 
that of the enemy, a large 
part of it being before 
the Tory breastwork. 
Stark, in his official report 
to the New Hampshire 
authorities, states that his 
brigade — nearlj' two thirds 
of the fighting force — 
lost forty-two wounded 
and fourteen killed. If 
Vermont and Massachu- 
setts lost in the same ratio, 
the aggregate would be less 
than one hundred. 

Among the incidents of 
the battle not hitherto 
found in print is the loss 
of Stark's horse while he 
was engaged in a recon- 
naissance on foot during 
the action. Professor 
Butler records it, having 
found the advertisement 
in an old file of the 
Hartford Courant, of date 
Oct. 7, 1777. It is as 
follows: 



Private Soldier. 



[From the Coiincclititt Coitmnl, Tuesday, r)ct. 7, 1777] 
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD- 

STOLE from me the fiibfcriber, from Walloomfcock, in the time of action, 
the l6th of Augtift la.st, a Ijrown MARE, five years old, had a ftar in her 
forehead. Also, a doe fkin fented faddle, blue houting triiii'd with white, and 
a curbed bridle. It is earneflly requested of all committees of fafety and 
others in authority, to exert themselves to recover faid thief and mare, so that 
he may be brought to juftice, and the mare brought to me ; and the perfon, 
whoever he be, fhall receive the above reward for both, and for the mare alone 
one half of that fum. How fiandahnis, hoio difyract-fitl and i^noniiuioits ntitft 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



303 



// iippcar to all friendly and generous fouls to have fucli fly artful, defining 
villains enter into the field in the time of action in order to pillage, pilfer and 
plunder from their brethren when engaged in battle. 

John Stark, B. D. G. 
Bennington, nth Sept. I777- 

August 22, Stark sent his official report to Gates, thus recog- 
nizing the authority of his Continental superior officer ; but he 
sent no report to Congress, " thus," says Everett, in his biogra- 
phy (Sparks), "disdaining to make his success the instrument of 
a tritimphant accommodation." 

The day before the news from Bennington was received at 
Philadelphia, Congress passed a resolution censuring Stark's 
course with Lincoln ; shortly after, it made honorable amends by 
giving him his full rank as brigadier in the national forces, 
accompanied with a vote of thanks to himself, officers, and 
soldiers. 

Stark left Bennington Sept. 14 with his brigade to join 
Gates, who had superseded Schuyler three days after the defeat 
of Baum and Bre\ man. Three days later the Northern army was 
again made glad by the news of the retreat of St. Leger from 
the investment of Fort Stanwix, and the union of .Arnold's 
force with the garrison. 

HESSIANS IN NUTFIELD. 

The heroism of the force under Gen. Stark at Bennington 
is more apparent when it is considered that the greater part of 
the enemy were veterans of the seven years' war in Germany, 
and had been subjected to the severe discipline of the armies of 
Frederick the Great. The Hessians received their name from 
the Hesse provinces of central Clermany, a mountainous region, 
producing a stalwart soldiery, brave and inured to the hardshifs 
of war. Seventeen thousand of these troops were obtained by 
King George HI. at the reputed price of seven pounds tenpence 
a man, with a provision of further compensation to the families 
of such as should be killed or die of disease in the service. 

The formidable part of the British force at Bennington was 
the Hessians, and their pertinacious bravery and efficiency might 
have given a different turn to the fortunes of the day if they had 
not been handicapped by the irregulars, who were attached to 
them as allies. The greater part of our prisoners were Hessians, 
and they were treated with due respect, being marched to Ben- 
nington Centre, with flank guards, while the Tories were tied in 
pairs to a long rope which, in front, was attached to a stout 
horse. The whole crowd of prisoners were taken into the village 
church with a relay of guaids on the outside. The little edifice 
was not made for so large a congregation, and the floor timbers 
cracked ominously. A panic was created, and several prisoners 
rushed for the door. The guards, thinking it an attempt to 
escape, fired, and nine fell at the first volley. As soon as the 
true state of affairs was known and quiet restored in the crowd, 
great regret was expressed by the citizens and soldiers. The 
lallen prisoners were honorably buried in the church yard, and 
the ])osition of their graves is still pointed out to visitors. 

The Hessians of the Bennington battle were evidently a 
better class of soldiers, and morall>' superior to the troops cap- 
tured by Washington at Trenton. Stark had evidently a good 
opinion of them, and when he returned to his own state with his 



victorious troops, brought also a number of Hessian soldiers with 
him. Several of these formed a prosperous farming colony in 
Merrimack township, on the road leading to the centre of the 
town, and their descendants are yet living in that vicinity or in 
the confines of old Ni:tfield. The families of Longa, Ritterbusch, 
Schillenger, and Archelaus will be readily recalled by our older 
citizens. The last mentioned of these settlers, Henri Archelaus, 
was the body servant of Col. Baum, helped carry the wounded 
leader Irom the field, and attended him at his death the follow- 
ing day, Sunday, at the farmhouse hospital in the adjoining 
town of Shaftsbury. Archelaus lived in Weare, and died at an 
advanced age. 

Gen. Stark sent examples of Hessian trophies, uniforms, 
armament, and band instruments, to the authorities of the 
several states represented by troops in the battle. For more 
than a hundred years Hessian caps, swords, drums, and muskets 
have been displayed in the senate chamber of Massachusetts at 
Boston. Two small bronze guns mounted are at the capitol in 
Montpelier, Vt., and one of the larger guns, "Molly Stark," as 
is well known, is at New Boston. Some of our old military 
records mention the remaining cannon, the mate of the last 
named, and assert that it was assigned to a privateer in the war 
of 181 2, and lost at sea. 



STARK AT HOME.— No personality has left 
a deeper impress upon New Hampshire than 
that of John Stark. His was one of those massive, 
rugged, robust natures that are great of them- 
selves, not as the result of outward circumstances. 
He was one of the men who create events, not 
one of those who are created by events. His 
militarv career is more or less familiar to all 
readers, and has to some extent overshadowed the 
simple but interesting story of his home life, which 
is told by H. W. Herrick of Manchester: 

The vigor and decision shown by Stark in military life are 
traceable in the management of his secular affairs. He was 
emphatically a worker, and had no patience with indolence, 
mental or physical. His plans for farm labor were comj^rehen- 
sive and far-reaching in results, and for the ])eriod in which he 
lived lie effectively wielded a large capital. This good manage- 
ment was noticeable in the expenses he incurred for government 
in his military capacity. The financial cost to New Ham|)shire 
for the liennington victory was, fiir mustering, mileage, rations, 
wages, and contingent expenses, a trifle over $82,000 in the 
depreciated p.iper currency of the day, or $2,500 in gold. 
Stark did not die a rich man, in the modern understanding of 
the term ; he prudently used his resources, and thus answered 
the large demands on his hospitality and kept his estate intact. 
The interests of his farm and an extensive trade in lumber and 
tracts of woodland divided his time and labors. At one time he 
owned, with two partners, the present township of Dunbarton, 
then called Starkstown, and operated largely in lumber. The 



304 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NdTFIELD. 



facilities for getting logs and manufactured lumber to market 
were greatly increased by the completion of the Amoskeag canal 
in 1807, and Stark's property in timber tracts was made much 
more valuable. Early in life he erected a mill for sawing lumber 
on Ray's brook, at the present site of Dorr's pond, and it was 
this mill that was so suddenly stopped at the news of the battle 
of Lexington, and permitted to rot and rust during the eight 
years of the Revolution. The remains of the dam are yet to be 
seen at low water. After the Revolution, Stark, in connection 
with Judge Blodgett, erected a saw and grist mill on the east side 
of Amoskeag falls, near the present entrance of the company's 
large canal. 

Notwithstanding the rough and stirring character of Stark's 



to that of a modern poultry exhibitor. One enormous fowl was 
his pet and pride ; the golden plumage, black breast, and fine 
sickle feathers were descanted on with true appreciation. This 
queer pet would eat corn from his master's hand, perch on his 
cane, crow at command, and was even admitted into the gen- 
eral's room, by his expresseil wish, to while away the tedious 
hours when he could no longer sit on the lawn. 

The farmhouse of Stark was a plain two-story structure, with 
an ell, a front door and entry dividing it into two equal 
parts ; this, with four barns, and some smaller out-houses, com- 
prised the farm buildings. They were erected a few yards above 
the junction of the [iresent Reform School road with the River 
road, and the well, with its cover of plank, is still to be seen. 




^^ 



-■ *i"\r^-. 



__»"? -— 



•/' 



HOME OF GEN. STARK, MANCHESTER. 



lilc, he had naturally a literary taste, and was never more happv 
than when reading a favorite author. Books were comparatively 
rare in his day, but his library represented the standard authors 
of contemporary literature. Dr. Johnson's works and the Scotch 
poets of the early part of the century were his favorites. 

As second childhood came upon the old war veteran, after 
the age of four score and ten years, one of his great pleasures was 
the taming and fondling of his domestic and farm animals. 
Though always a lover of fine horses and cattle, he now found 
great satisfaction in petting and cherishing them. A very large 
bay family horse named Hessian was a special favorite, and he 
took pleasure, when sitting in his easy chair on the lawn, in the 
sun, in feeding and taming his |)oultry. One of his descendants 
describes the general's enthusiasm about his fowls as quite equal 



The house was erected bv the general in the year 176^, and at 
that period was considered an edifice of notable qualities. It 
had handsome pediment caps to the windows and doors, and 
corner boards generously ornamented, and was, within, of large 
dimensions and careful finish. The taste of Stark, when ap])lied 
to house building, was somewhat peculiar and erratic, for while 
he had his rooms finished with the best skill and most costly 
material of the period, he would never suffer paint or room 
paper to be seen inside of his house. He took great pride 
in pointing to the width and quality of native woods used in 
the large and sumptuous panels in the walls of the rooms, and in 
tlie wood carving of a large buffet, or French sideboard, filling 
one corner of his dining room. When age and infirmity con- 
fined him to the house, he chose one of the lower front rooms, 



WiLLBrs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



305 




36 



->^^-C^gX-< 



366 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELjD. 



where, from the window with an eastern exposure, he could s.e 
the first beams of the morning sun. To secure more sunlight he 
gave directions to have one of the front windows enlarged, 
making it double its former dimensions. The injury to the 
symmetry of the building was urged by his friends, but all 
remonstrance was useless ; the capacity of the window was 
doubled, and until the alterations of the buildings many years 
afterward, the strange and whimsical window remained, a 
memento of the former proprietor. The house was burned about 
the year 1866, and the land adjacent, originally several hundred 
acres, diminished by sale and gifts to descendants, was purchased 
by the state as the site for the Reform School. 

Mrs. Stark died in the year 1S14, at which time the general 
was eighty-six years old. An anecdote is told of him, as 
occurring at the funeral ceremony. The minister officiating 
referred in his remarks to the general and made some very com- 




tijUKbrkiAN .srAiLt; (it sr.^RK. 

Study for colossal work. — Rogers. 

plimentary allusions to his [jatriotic services for his countrv. 
The old veteran rapjjed tartly with his cane on the floor, saying : 
" Tut 1 Tut ! no more of that ! and ])lease you ! " This sudden 
interruption of the ceremony was soon followed by the more 
appropriate allusions to the virtues of Molly. As the funeral 
procession left the lawn, the old man tottered into his room, 
saying sadly : " Good-bye, Molly ; we sup no more together on 
earth!" Eight years after the death of his wife, Stark was 
called by the last summons of Providence. The latter years of 
his life were largely spent in his room, attended by two favorite 
granddaughters, Miss Molly Babson and Abby Stark. Though 
quite young at the time of his last sickness, Abby Stark was his 
constant nurse. Two weeks before the old veteran's death he 
was stricken with paralysis of one side of the body, the throat 
being so affected as to make it impossible to take nourishment. 
He could express his wishes only by signs and the expression of 
the eyes. Just before his last attack he had expressed to his son. 



Caleb, his wish and readiness to de])art whenever it was Ciod's 
will. His mind had been much exercised for a few year? on the 
realities of the last great change, and the Bible had been the 
constant companion of his sick room. While unable to sptak or 
move one half of his body, he would give a motion to the sound 
leg, and look up in the face of his nurse with a playful expression, 
signifying that a little of the old general was animate yet. After 
a fortnight's suffering, the old hero passed away, May 8, 1S22. 
The funeral ceremonies were observed two days later, and were, 
at the general's request, simple and unostentatious. The 
morning was beautiful, and the sun of early spring had so 
warmed vegetation for a few days previous that the grass was 
green and luxuriant, and the trees were fast expanding their buds 
into young and tender leaves. In front of the house, beyond 
the road, a line of infantry, leaning on reversed arms, under the 
fragrant budding of the orchard, waited the time of their escort 
service. The day was quite oppressive in its heat, and many of 
the soldiers sulTered in their warm and close uniforms. 

At the close of the religious service by Rev. Dr. Dana of 
Londonderry and Rev. Ephraim Bradford of New Boston, the 
procession was formed. The military moved in front and at 
the sides of the body as escort. Mr. Ray, a much respected 
neighbor, led the horse Hessian, decked m war trappings, and 
the long procession of mourners moved from the lawn, and, at 
the sad funeral pace, proceeded to the family burial ground in 
the field, about a quarter of a mile distant. The young people 
of the town had, unknown to their elders, obtained a small 
cannon and stationed it some distance from the grave, and fired 
minute guns as the procession approached. The body was 
deposited in its last resting place, and the infantry, filing right 
and left of the spot, fired three volleys as their last mournfiil 
tribute of respect to the memory of the beloved patriot and 
soldier. (See sketch of Gen. John Stark, page 15.) 

st.\rk's birthplace in derrv. 

The locality of this spot should be definitely described in a 
history of Nuifield, for as years pass, points of historical interest 
become harder of solution, where they are involved in doubt. 
In a national point of view. Stark was, for this province, the 
figure of greatest magnitude and interest in the colonial times, 
and rendered most invaluable service at the most critical point 
of the Revolution. The valuable historical manuscript of 
Robert C. Mack, the indefatigable collector for the local history 
of Nutfield, settled disputed points as to the early history of the 
Stark family in this country. In the winter of 1878, Mr. Mack 
sent a communication on this subject to a Boston newspaper, of 
which the following is an extract : 

The precise spot where the Stark house stood is about two miles south of 
the village of East Derry, on the direct road to Kilrea, and was on land now in 
possession of Mr. Joseph While. A thrifty young apple orchard occupies the 
site and near surroundings. It is on the west side of the highway, and only a 
very few feet distant from it .Mr. White, aided by Mr. fames Nowell, tilled 
tlie old cellar about twenty three years ago, and the space between the fourth 
and fifth rows of trees, reckoning from the lower side of the orchard, now marks 
the spot. Mr. Nowell, who was born and always lived near by, and whose 
knowledge of old landmarks is unquestioned, affirms this to be the place. He 
was so informed fifty years ago by an old lady, then nearly one hundred years 
of age, and the uniform traditions of tlte locality concur. In this connection I 



WFL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



307 



append an interesting incident communicated to me by the Hon. Alexis Proc- 
tor of I'lanklin, a former near neighbor of Mr. White. He says : " I have 
had the White orchard pointed out to me a hundred limes, by my father and 
many others, as the spot where Gen. Stark was born, and I do not have the 
^lightest doubt as to the truth of it. In the summer of 1840 a party of fifty or 
si.Nly gentlemen, in half as many carriages, from Bradford, Newburyport, and 
olher towns on the Massachusetts border, came along on their way to attend 
the great Harrison meeting at Concord. Gen, James Duncan of Haverhill, then 
or shortly after a member of Congress, desired to see the place where Gen. 
Stark was born. Accordingly my father went with them to the spot, and 
nearly all took a brick as a relic." In addition to the above testimony, I will 
state that a careful measurement of the oiiginal home lot of Jonathan Tyler, 
which subsecpiently, as we have seen, became the homestead of ArchibaKl 
Stark, fully confirms the statements of Mr. Proctor and Mr. Nowell. 

A picturesque old cellar, half a mile fnriher down the Kilrea road, was 
pointed out with .some doubt last autumn by the present writer to Charles M. 
Bliss, Ihe genial secretary of the " Bennington Battle Mcnument Association," 
and the correspondent of a Manchester paper, as the Stark homestead, but 
later careful investigations clearly point to the White orchard as the veritable 
]ilace. No harm, however, will result from the error, save, perhaps the wast- 
ing of a little cheap sentiment by our party over the grassy knolls and out- 
cropping rocks that we fancied had witnessed the young sports of the luture 
hero of Bennington. 

Mr. H. W. Herrick of Manchester, the accomplished artist, has taken a 
sketch and will execute in water colors a representation of the site, at the 
de.sire of the wife of Gov. Fairbanks of Vermont, a native of Derry, who was 
liorn within half a mile of the place. 

The neighborhood described in this letter is in tlie southeast 
corner of Derr\-, near the union of the Nashua and Rochester 
railroad with the Lawrence road, (Windham Junction), and 
locally is known by the whimsical name of " Derry Dock." It 
is said that tliis name was applied by tlie natives from the fiict 






M' 



m I 




m- 







*^. ^■■'■■•^ 



Sl'ARK S IlIR rHPI,-\CE, DERRY. 

that two brothers named 'raylor, with their families, early in this 
century moved to the vicinity from ijoston or Charlestown, 
where they were formerly established as ship chandlers or ship 
carpenters. Their farms being in the same vicinity, the neigh- 
bors called this part of the town '-The Dock," and the term 
was in time applied to the whole sotitheast part of the town. 




STA'lUETTE OF STARK 
At Bennington. — Rogers. 



Kilrea street, shown on the map, page 78, was a country road, 
on which these Taylor farms were located. The extract from 
Mr. Mack's letter makes plain the location, and his statement is 
confirmed by Mr. H. Johnson, an elderly resident, w^hose ances- 
tors described to him the site of the house as it appeared nearly 
a hundred years ago. 

Archibald Stark moved to Manchester in 1736, or, as the 
place was then known, Tyngs- 
town, Harrytovvn, or Nutfield. 
At this time, John, the third 
child, was about eight years old. 
The father lived only about 
eight years on the new farm, 
now part of the State Industrial 
School land, when he died, 
leaving a young family, John 
being about sixteen ye:rs old. 
The burial of the father oc- 
curred in a small rural ceme- 
tery, south of Amoskeag Falls, 
east side, and near the present 
site of the locomotive works. 
The surface was a gentle rise of 
ground, or knoll, and the spot 
contained, in 1S54, only a 
dozen or twenty rude head- 
stones with a few bushes of 
birch and small pines inter- 
spersed. As the city advanced 

northward, these bodies were removed, in 1S54, with the old 
slate headstones, to the Valley cemetery, that of Archibald Stark 
being thence transferred to the family lot in Stark Park a year 
or two since. 

The Stark farm, after the death of its owner, was cared for 
l)y the brothers William and John, until twenty-four years after, 
when bounties and pensions received by John from the govern- 
inent for services in the old French wars on the border enabled 
him to take the farm into his own possession and build, in 176S, 
the house that was afterward known to be his headquarters for 
life. At this time, Stark was about forty years old, and he was 
busily engaged in farm work and lumber traffic for seven years, 
when the call to Lexington and Bunker Hill was the beginning 
of his years of hard field service for his country. 

Stark's farmhouse has been described and engraved, and 
many of our elder citizens remember it well as it stood on the 
north River road, due east of the Industrial School buildings, 
and two or three rods west of the present road, where the old 
well, covered by plank, is still seen. The building was 
destroyed by fire in 1S66. 

When the news of the commencement of hostilities at Lex- 
ington reached Nutfield, Stark was in one of his sawmills, near 
the outlet of Dorr's pond, and it is said that at a low stage of 
water the remains of the old mill-dam are still visible. From 
this place the fiiture hero went to his task of recruiting a com- 
pany, and in t\vo or three days, it is affirmed by one historian, he 
enlisted enough for a regiment, with two hundred men to spare 
for the nucleus of another. 



3o8 



WILLBT'S BOOK OF NITTFIELD. 



T^HE "MOLLY STARK" CANNON is now 
A stored at New Boston, where it was photo- 
graphed for this work. This piece of ordnance is 
very handsome, profusely ornamented about the 
breech and as smooth as when brought from the 
foundry in i 747, except a few small pits about the 
muzzle, made by sulphur corrosions from powder. 
The gun is of French origin, having been cast at 
the government foundry near Paris. It was 
brought to this country with other similar guns 
when the French held Canada. In the strupfffle 
between the French and English for supremacy a 
hundred and fifty years ago, this gun was captured 
by the victors and was held until 1777, when, 



STARK'S PATRIOTISM. — The following 
characteristic letter was written in 1809 
by Gen. Stark to the committee having charge 
of the celebration of the battle of Bennington : 

At My Quarters, 

Derryfield, 31*' July, 1809. 

Aly Fn'e>ids. and Fellow Soldiers: — 

I received yours of the 22'"", instant, containing your fer- 
vent expressions of friendship, and your very pohte invitation to 
meet with you, to celebrate the 16"'' of August, in Bennington. 

As you observe, I "can never forget, that" I "commanded 
American Troops "' on that day in Bennington, — They were 
men that had not learned the art of submission, nor had they 
been trained to the art of war. But our "astonishing success'' 




THE "MOLLY STARK CANNON. 



with others, it formed part of the armament of 
Burgoyne's artillery "in"! his'unvasion 'of Vermont 
and New York. 

The enemv under Col. Baum had onlv two 
small cannon, and the relief column under 
Breyman also had two, of heavier metal, 
one of which was "Molly." The smaller pieces 
were captured in the afternoon struggle in 
the redoubt, and the two larger guns in the battle 
at sunset. Gen. Stark placed the gun " Molly " 
with the artillery company connected with what 
was then the " Bloody Twelfth Regiment," having 
its annual field day at Goffstown, and which he 
was in the habit of reviewing each year. The 
company was composed of men living in Goffs- 
town and New Boston. 



taught the enemies of Liberty, that undisciplined freemen are 
superior to veteran slaves. And I fear we shall have to teach 
the lesson anew to that perfidious nation. 

Nothing could afford me more pleasure than to meet "the 
Sons of Liberty " on that fortunate spot. But as you justly antici- 
pate, the infirmities of old agew-ill not permit : for I am now four- 
score and one years old. and the lamp of life is almost spent. 
1 have of late had many such invitations, but was not ready, for 
there was not oil enough in the lamp. 

You say you wish your young men to see me, but vou who 
have seen me can tell them, that I ne\'er was worth much for a 
show, and certainly cannot be worth their seeing now. 

In case of my not being able to attend, vou wish mv senti- 
ments, — then you shall have them as free as the air we breathe. 
As I was then, 1 am now — The friend of the equal rights of 
inen. of representative Democracy, of Republicanism, and the 
Declaration of Lidependence, the great charter of our National 
rights : — and of course the friend of the indissoluble union and 
constitution of the States. I am the enemy of all foreign 



WILLErs BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



309 



influtnce, for all foreign influence is the influence of tyranny. 
This is the only chosen spot for liberty, — this is the only 
Republic on earth. 

You well know, gentlemen, that at the time of the e\'ent 
you celebrate, there was a ])owerful British faction in the coun- 
try (called Tories), and a material part of the force we had to 
contend with was (at Bennington, Hoosick) Tories. This faction 
was rankling in our councils, till they had laid the foundation 
for the subversion of our liberties. But by good sentinels at our 
outposts, we were apprised of our danger : and the Sons of 
Freedom beat the alarm, — and, as at Bennington, " They came, 
they saw, they conquered." But again the faction has rallied to 
the charge, and again they have been beaten. 

It is my orders now, and will be my last orders to all volun- 
teers, to look well to their sentries : for there is a dangerous 
British party in this countrw lurking in their hiding places, more 
dangerous than all our foreign enemies. And whenever they 
shall appear openly, to render the same account of them that 
was given at Bennington, let them assume what name they will : 
not doubting that the ladies will be as patriotic, in furnishing 
every aid, as they were at Bennington in '77, who even dis- 
mantled their beds to furnish cords to secure and lead them off. 

1 shall remember, gentlemen, the respect you, and "the 
inhabitants of Bennington and its neighborhood," have shewn 
me. till I go to the country from which no traveller e'er returns. 
1 must soon receive marching orders. John St,\rk. 



' .S. I will give you my volunteer toast : 
Death is not the greatest of exils." 



■ Live free or 



ROGER G. SULLIVAN, son of Michael and 
Julia (Kane) Sullivan, was born in Bradford 
Dec. 18, 1854. Both his parents were natives of 
Ireland. His education was received at the com- 
mon schools in Bradford and at the Park-street 
o;rammar school, Manchester, whither his parents 
removed when he was eifjht years of age. Here 
he has since resided with the exception of four 
years spent at Merrimackport, Mass., where he 
worked at carriage painting. In December, 1874, 
he hired a small store on Amherst street and began 
the manufacture of the Gold Dust ten-cent cigar. 
From this modest beginning his business has con- 
stantlv increased, necessitating removal six times 
to more extensive quarters, until in 1894 he 
erected the large four-story building which he has 
since occupied. Mr. Sullivan subsequently put 
upon the market the New Gold Dust cigar, chang- 
ing this name later to "7-20-4," from the number 
of his factory, 724 Elm street. This brand at once 
met with popular favor and achieved a reputation 
extending over many states. The magnitude of 
Mr. Sullivan's business is illustrated bv the fact 



that the output of the factory averages more than 
six million cigars a year. In 1877, he was married 
to Susan C., daughter of True O. and Susan 
(Gerrish) Fernald of Manchester. Three daugh- 
ters have been born of this union : Minna E., 
Susan A., and Emma F. Mr. Sullivan is a mem- 




ROGER n. SULLIVAN. 



ber of the Cathedral parish, of the Knights of 
Columbus, of the Amoskeag Veterans, and of the 
Derrylield Club. He is one of the trustees of the 
Amoskeag bank, and one of the most successful 
of Manchester's many successful business men. 
(See cut of residence, page 286.) 



HENRY WALKER HERRICK, son of 
Israel E, and Martha (Trow) Herrick, was 
born in Hopkinton Aug. 23, 1824. His mother, 
from whom he seems to have derived his artistic 
tastes, was educated at a boarding school in 
Charlestown, Mass., where she learned to do some 
creditable work, specimens of which her son shows 
to visitors with commendable pride. Her best 
work, however, was done in fostering in her son 
his earl\- inclinations, for at the a^e of eight vears 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NtlTFIELD. 



she taught him to paint flowers and kindred 
natural objects. His education, begun in the com- 
mon schools, was continued at Hancock Academy. 
Becoming interested in wood engraving, he studied 
the art two years by himself, and found employ- 
ment in Concord and Manchester as an cngrayer. 
At the age of twenty Mr. Herrick went to New 
York and began his studies at the National 
Academy of Design. 
His progress was 
such that after six 
months he began 
book engraving in 
the service of the 
Appletons, working 
for several )' e a r s 
largely on the de- 
signs of Felix O. C. 
Darley, then the lead- 
ing American artist 
in genre pictures. 
During this time Mr. 
H errick executed 
commissions for Har- 
per & Bros., the 
American Tract So- 
ciety, Carter Bros., 
and other firms. In 
1852 George L. 
Schuyler, grandson 
of Gen. Philip Schuy- 
ler of Revolutionary 
f a m e , and Ma r y 
Hamilton, grand- 
daughter of Alexan- 
der H. Hamilton, 
started the school of 
design for women 

at the corner of Broadway and Broome street. 
New York, and Miss Cordelia Chase of Hopkin- 
ton, said to be a relative of Salmon P. Chase, was 
made its principal. It speaks well for Mr. Her- 
rick's artistic standing at that period in New York 
that he was introduced to Mr. Schu\ ler b\- Benson 
J. Lossing, the well-known historian ;md artist, as 
fitted for the position of teacher in the new school. 
He continued his connection with this school for 
six years, during two of which he was principal, 




until its union with Cooper Institute. About 
this time he received an invitation to assume 
charge of the art department in Yale College, the 
foundation of which was given bv Mr. Street, a 
wealth\- patron of Yale. He continued, however, 
to do work for New York houses, the American 
Bank Note Company, and others, among other 
things redrawing designs for the Imperial Bank of 

Russia. After twen- 
ty-one years spent in 
New York, Mr. Her- 
rick returned to Man- 
chester in 1865, still 
continuing work as 
designer and en- 
graver for firms in 
the metropolis. He 
also executed the 
illustrations for the 
large volume of 
^sop's Fables, issued 
by Hurd & Hough- 
ton. He has done 
some good work in 
oil, but in these later 
years he has distin- 
guished himself by 
his work in water 
colors. Many years 
ago, however, he gave 
proof of his worth 
as an artist by his 
beautiful drawings 
of birds, done for 
Prang, which in nat- 
ural color and pose 
have not since been 
excelled. Today it 
is as a landscai^e artist that he is conspicuously 
good, and he finds in the scenei'v around Manches- 
ter themes worthy of his pen and pencil. He has 
exhibited pictures in oU and in water color in the 
Academy of Design, in the .American Water Color 
Society, and in the Boston Art Club, and also 
placed in the Centennial exhibition in Philadel- 
phia studies from a favorite subject, the life of 
Gen. Stark. He is the author of " Water Color 
Painting," a standard work, published by Devoe 



HENRY \V. HERRICK. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



3^1 



(Si Co., profusely illustrated and colored by hand, been here ever since. After attending the public 

Mr. Herrick is a man of independent character, schools for five years, and just as he was about to 

of indomitable industry, and for many years oraduatc from the Lincoln-street grammar school 

was the only resident artist who pursued he was sent to the College of Ste. Therese, Quebec, 

his vocation as a life work. He came to where he successfully completed the full eight 

Manchester in 1842, and from the first he has years' course. Having thus prepared himself to 

encouraged in every way the growth of art in study for the priesthood, he entered the Grand 

the citv, has been one of the main pillars of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal and finished 



Art Association, has 
given courses of free 
lectures on art which 
were lararelv attended 
by the best citizens, 
has seen his pupils 
growing up around 
him, and still docs 
not abate his early 
enthusiasm. Mr. 
Herrick is a member 
of the First Congre- 
gational church, has 
devoted much time 
to mission work, and 
has alwavs been an 
advocate of whatever 
promotes the moral 
and religious welfare 
of the citv. He mar- 
ried, in 1849, Miss 
Clara Parkinson of 
New Boston. They 
have three sons : one 
a minister in Min- 
neapolis, Minn., one 
an accountant in the 
auditor's office, Man- 
chester, and one a 
civil engineer. Mr. 
Herrick is the author of "Stark 
and at Home." (See page 296.) 




REV. AlIEDEF, LESSARD. 



his theological 
studies in 1889. Dec. 
22 of that year he 
was ordained in the 
old chapel at Mc- 
Gregorville. This 
chapel was destroyed 
by fire in the follow- 
ing October. Jan. 1, 
1890, Father Lcssard 
was appointed assist- 
ant to Rev. E. M. 
O ' C a 1 1 a g h a n of 
Portsmouth, and in 
the foil o w i n g M ay 
was transferred to 
St. Mary's church. 
West Manchester, 
where he remained 
until his appointment 
as assistant pastor of 
St. George's church, 
in May, 1891. Here 
he rendered valual)le 
assistance in the erec- 
tion of this beautiful 
church edifice, antl 
otherwise demon- 
strated his efficiency 
and /eal. Jan. 3, 



at 



Bennington 1895, he was transferred to St. Augustin's church 
as assistant to the pastor. Rev. J. A. Chevalier, 
and Oct. 21, 1895, within less than si.x years after 
his ordination, was appointed by the bishop as 

REV. AMEDEE LESSARD, the first French pastor of Gonic, N. H. Father Lessard has shown 
priest ordained by Rt. Rev. Bishop Bradley good executive abilities, is popular with all classes 
tor the diocese of Manchester, was born in St. of the community, and it is expected that his 
Johns, Iherville, Richelieu Valley, Ouebec, March pastorate will be highly successful. (For Diocese 
10, 1863. When he was three years of age his of Manchester and sketch of Rt. Rev. Bisiiop 
parents came to Manchester, and his home has Bradley, see page 109.) 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



FRANCIS BROWN EATON, son of Peter for a year an assistant editor's desk in tlie office 
and Hannah Hale (Kelly) Eaton, was born of the Boston Journal, oceasionallv doing repor- 
in Candia Feb. 26, 1825. He received a common ter's dutv. At the expiration of the year he was 
school and academic education, and in 1850 offered the position of night editor, then held by 
removed with his parents to Manchester. In 1852 the veteran John Callaghan Moore, well known 
he published the " History of Candia, Once Known among the newspaper fraternity of that day. F"or- 
as Charmingfare, with Notices of some of the l)idden bv a troublesome weakness of the eves to 
Early Families." At this time there were but few accept this jilace, he received, through the good 

offices of William 
E. Chandler, an ap- 
pointment as in- 
spector in tlie cus- 
toms department and 
was stationed at 
Montreal and later 
at Portland, Me. Re- 
turning to Manches- 
ter in 1869, he began 
business as a book- 
seller, conducting 
with it also a circu- 
lating library, and 



town histories in the 
state. Soon after 
removing to Man- 
chester Mr. Eaton 
became assistant 
editor of the Daily 
American, and dur- 
ing the session of 
conm-ess after Presi- 

o 

dent Franklin 
Pierce's inauguration 
(1853) was its Wash- 
ington correspond- 
ent. Soon after 
r e t u r n i n g f r o m 
Washington, Mr. 
Eaton was offered 
the position of libra- 
rian in the new city 
library, and at the 
solicitation of Hon. 
Samuel N. Bell he 
accepted the place, 
and retained it for 
nearly ten years, dur- 
ing which time he 
was a frequent con- 
tributor to the Daily 
Mirror, writing book 
notices and a series 




FRANCIS B. EATON. 



continuing thus for 
eleven years. During 
this time he com- 
piled and edited 
sketches of the life 
and public services 
of Hon. Frederick 
Smyth, which were 
printed for ])rivate 
circulation in 1S85. 
Mr. Eaton was for 
some years a director 
of the Fran kl i n- 
Street Congrega- 
tional Societv, super- 
intendent of the 



of articles under the title of "Grapes from Sunday school, and clerk of the church, in 

the Vines of Piscataquog." He was likewise which he now holds the office of deacon. He is 

correspondent of the Boston Traveller. From author of the semi-centennial history of that 

December, 1861, to January, 1863, he was church published in 1894. For some years after 

editor and proprietor of the New Hampshire disposing of his bookstore, he was a clerk in the 

Journal of Agriculture, until it was sold and First National bank, of which he is now a director, 

merged in the Mirror and Farmer. In 1864, the and also trustee and vice president of the Merri- 

Boston Daily Advertiser having sent one of its mack River Savings bank. In 1854 Mr. Eaton 

staff to the front, Mr. Eaton took his place in the married Lucretia, daughter of John Lane of 

office until the end of the war, when he occupied Candia. 





'^^<2X^ 





W/L LET'S BOOK OF N^TFIELD. 



3'S 



TAMES BALDWIN, son of James and Pris- 
<J cilia (Keyes) Baldwin, was born in Westford, 
Mass., May 31, 181 2, being a direct descendant of 
Henry Baldwin, who won distinction as a citizen 
of Woburn, Mass., as early as 1640. He made 
good use of such time as he had in the public 
schools, and very early in life began work for an 
older brother, making bobbins and shuttles for 
looms. Remaining with his brother until 1857, 
he came in that year to Manchester and founded 
a business of his own on somewhat more advanced 
plans, which he conducted successfully until his 
death. May 22, 1893. He began with crude 
machinery in a small way in Mechanics' Row, on 
the site of the present Jefferson Mill, in 1859, and 
Iniilt the bobbin factory in West Manchester in 
1876. Mr. Baldwin gradually expanded his plant 
until at the time of his death the company of which 
he was the head employed nearly three hundred 
hands, and the facilities were still more enlarged 
by greatly improved machinery, so that the com- 
pany was always up to the times when not leading 
as producers of bobbins, shuttles, spools, and 
various other wood attachments for machinery. 
Mr. Baldwin wisely provided for the perpetuation 
of his business by forming a stock company before 
his retirement, taking in his sons and naming the 
corporation the James Baldwin Company. At the 
present time John C. Littlefield is president, J. F. 
Baldwin treasurer, and Luther C. Baldwin secre- 
tary. The business sagacity and ingenuity of the 
founder is strongly inherited by the sons, who con- 
trol the stock of the company and conduct the 
business. In 1840, Mr. Baldwin married Mary 
Buttrick of Concord, Mass. Six children were 
born to them, and three of these are still living in 
Manchester: James Frank, Mary E. (wife of 
John C. Littlefield), and Luther Chase Baldwin. 
Their mother died in 1857, and in 1858 Mr. 
Baldwin married Julia A. Hunton. One son by 
this marriage, Charles Fred Baldwin, was several 
years principal of the Ash-street school, Manches- 
ter, and is now principal of the Forster Grammar 
School, Somerville, Mass. In 1880 Mr. Baldwin 
married Mrs. Eliza W. Brown, who is now living. 
Early in youth he became a member of the Bap- 
tist church in Nashua, and after his removal to 
Manchester united with the First Baptist ciiurch 



in this city, serving as deacon for many years. 
Very positive in his views, he would not waver in 
any case when he considered he was right. He 
was unostentatious in the performance of every 
duty, retaining to the last of his long and busy life 
a genial and lovable disposition. 



[T CA' NO' SP'AK THE WORDS.— Among 
A current traditions of controversies in the reli- 
gious societies of Londonderry is one concerning 
the introduction of instrumental music in the West 
Parish church. For economical as well as political 
reasons, the Presbyterian societies were very aus- 
tere and rigid in their adherence to certain customs 
of worship, and bitterly opposed to the ornamenta- 
tion t)f religious houses, or the use of pleasing 
accessories, or comforting conveniences, such as 
bells, organs, fiddles, stained glass, cushions, and 
stoves. These were all abominations and hin- 
drances to the pure ideal worship. But a change 
came after long years of singmg in the West 
Parish led by some man who carried in his pocket 
a pitch pipe, or tuning fork made of steel, and 
after the announcement of the psalm, or hvmn, 
struck the keynote, holding the instrument to his 
ear, and with his voice soundinij out the intervals 
to make the necessary transposition, and- starting 
the tune. The progressive younger generation 
heard of the bass viol being used in the churches 
at Portsmouth, Haverhill, and Boston, and desired 
to have one purchased for Londonderry. To 
bring about the desired feeling in reference to 
the purchase of the bass viol, it was deemed 
expedient to canvass the community and take 
account of opinions and carry a subscription paper 
for those to sign who were in favor of buying 
the bass viol. When the subscription list arrived 
at the house of Deacon David Brewster, who lived 
near Scobey's Pond, where Major John Pinker- 
ton's first store was erected, the deacon glanced at 
the list and handed it back, saying : " I ha' objec- 
tion to 't." VV'hen asked for it he replied: "It 
ca' no' sp'ak the words in kirk." Some of the 
congregation were pleased to say thev thought 
the bass viol could speak the words almost as 
plainlv as the deacon. 



3r6 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



WALTER GREENLAND AFRICA, son 
of J. Simpson and Dorothea Corbin 
(Greenland) Africa, was born in Huntingdon, 
Penn., April 1 1, 1863. His education was obtained 
at the public and private schools of that town and 
at Juniata College. After his graduation he 
entered the service of the First National bank of 
Huntingdon, where he remained about a year and 
a half, devoting his 
leisure time to the 
study of civil en- 
gineering. Leaving 
the bank, he became 
connected with the 
firm of Elkins (Sc 
W i d e n e r , w i d e 1 y 
known as successful 
promoters of gas, 
electric and water- 
works enterprises, 
where he formed an 
intimate acquaint- 
ance with that im- 
portant class of prop- 
erties. In 1885 he 
leased the Hunting- 
don gas works, which 
he successfully oper- 
ated until 1887, when 
he came to Manches- 
ter, at the time of 
the organization of 
the People's Gas- 
light Company, 
which soon acquired 
control of the Man- 
chester Gaslight 
Company. At first 

Mr. Africa was superintendent of the new con- 
cern, but two years later he was chosen treasurer, 
and since then has acceptably filled both positions. 
Before leaving Pennsvlvania, his abilities and 
technical knowledge had been recognized by the 
state authorities, and he was designated to inves- 
tigate the glass sand mining industry of that 
state, publishing an illustrated report upon it in 
1886. His present responsible position with the 
People's Gaslight Company by no means fills the 




WALTER G. AFRICA. 



scope of his business activities. He is treasurer of 
the Manchester Electric Light Company; treasurer 
of the Brodie Electric Company, which is engaged 
in the manufacture of electric specialties ; treasurer 
of the Ben Franklin Electric Light Company; 
director of the Merchants' National bank, and of 
the board of trade. During the time that Mr. 
Africa has been connected with the companies the 

gas business has in- 
creased fifty per cent, 
and the electric light 
company now fur- 
nishes 680 arc and 
7,000 incandescent 
lights, in place of 37 
of the former and 
240 of the latter in 
1887. Since coming 
to Manchester he has 
associated himself 
with the Masonic 
fraternity, holding 
membership inWash- 
ington Lodge, Mt. 
Horeb Royal Arch 
Chapter, Adoniram 
Council Royal and 
Select Masters, and 
Trinity Command- 
ery, Knights Tem- 
plar, and wearing the 
insignia of the thirty- 
second degree by 
virtue of his mem- 
bership in Edward 
A. Raymond Con- 
sistory of Nashua, 
Ancient and Ac- 
cepted Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the 
Derryfield Club and of the Franklin-Street Congre- 
gational church. Mr. Africa is an active member 
of the New England Association of Gas Engineers, 
of the American Gaslight ^Association, and of the 
Guild of Gas Managers. Nov. 17, 1887, he mar- 
ried Miss Maud Eva Cunningham of Huntingdon, 
and they have three children: Dorothea Cunning- 
ham, born Nov. 18, 1888; Esther Bessie, born Jan. 
21, 1890; and Walter Murray, born April 22, 1892. 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



3t? 



DANIEL GOODWIN, son of Josiah and 
Esther (Jones) Goodwin, was born in Lon- 
donderry Sept. 9, 1832. He married Abby C. 
Austin Oct. 19, 1853, and they had three children : 
Ira P., born Oct. 13, 1856; John W. S., born Sept. 






-'ftS^ysSia*^ 




DANIEL GOODWIN. 



2 1, 1859, and A. Adella, born Nov. 27, 1861. 
Mr. Goodwin enlisted in Co. K, Fourth New 
Hampshire Volunteers, Sept. 18, 1861, and re- 
enlisted Feb. 28, 1864. He was killed while on 
picket duty in front of Petersburg, June 27, 1S64. 



he ran to the nearest tree and began to climb for 
dear life. The bear paused a moment to smell the 
hat and then followed Dodge to the tree. He 
was about six feet from the ground, and the bear, 
rising upon her hind legs, gave one stroke with 
her fore paw, the nails just catching in the sole of 
Dodge's shoe. In a moment he was out of her 
reach and shouting vigorously for help, making, 
if possible, more noise than the cow. The other 
men soon rescued him, shot the bear and took the 
cubs aliv^e. This story is given on the authority 
of Jonathan McAllister of Londonderry, who 
heard it from his father, Isaac McAllister, who 
shot the liear. 



JOSEPH WHITE, the son of John and Han- 
<J nah (Bradstreet) White, was born in Rowley, 
Mass., in 1824 and moved to Derry in 1846. In 
April, 1851. he married Miss Sarah A. Stickney of 
Derry, and bv her had four children : Hannah M., 




ISAAC DODGE AND THE BEAR.— Bears 

^ made frequent attacks upon the cattle in the 

early days of the Nutfield colony. It is related 

that one Sunday afternoon the settlers around 

Bear Hill, hearing the prolonged bellowing (jf a 

cow as if in distress, immediately rallied to learn 

the cause. The animal was found under a thick 

hemlock tree endeavoring to evade the attacks of joseph white. 

a she bear and her cubs. The ferocious beast was 

biting and tearing the cow's Hesh, occasionally Ella A., Joseph W., and John F., the last named 

securing a piece for her cubs. At the approach dying in 1863. In January of the following year 

of the men the bear hastily withdrew with her Mrs. White died, and in April, 1866, Mr. White 

offspring, and was met by Isaac Dodge, who was was again married, this time to Miss Melinda 

hurrying to the scene. Throwing his hat at her, Noyes. 



WILLET'S BOOK OP MUTFIELD. 



/^OL. GEORGE WASHINGTON LANE 

^--^ was born in Candia Sept. 27, 18 19, his 
parents being Thomas B. and Polly (Worthen) 
Lane. Like many others who have won marked 
success in life and attained high distinction among 
their fellow men, he was nurtured at the rugged 
breast of poverty. When he was only six years of 
age his father died, and being the eldest of five 
children, it fell to his lot to do what little he could 




COL. GEORGE W. LANE. 

to help his mother^bear her heavy burdens. So at 
that early age he went to work in a mill, his pay 
being $6.25 a month, $6 of which he gave to 
his mother. After the first six months his wages 
were raised to $11, so that until he was fourteen 
he was enabled to save considerable of his earn- 
ings. Going to Boston, he served a seven years' 
apprenticeship at the carriage builder's trade, 
which he learned thoroughly. Indeed, it was one 
of his chief characteristics to do well whatever he 



had in hand. After learning his trade he went 
into business for himself, and so intent was he 
upon achieving success that for a time he worked 
365 days a year. Prosperity attended his efforts, 
and having accumulated considerable property he 
purchased the American Hotel in Baltimore and 
was its landlord for twenty years. While here he 
had frequent opportunity of visiting the National 
Congress and hearing the oratory of Webster, 
Adams, Clay, and other famous statesmen. His 
early lack of educational advantages was thus 
supplemented in the very best of schools. During 
his residence in Baltimore his interests were by 
no means confined to the hotel business, for he 
visited Europe several times and secured contracts 
with the Russian government to raise sunken 
vessels in the Baltic and Black seas and elsewhere. 
In this as in everything else his efforts were 
crowned with success. He also introduced an 
American car coupler into Germany, and was 
interested in various other enterprises, all of which 
prospered under his hands. On the outbreak of 
the Rebellion in 1861 he offered his services to 
the government and was appointed by President 
Lincoln to a position of trust in the Army of the 
James. He was with Gen. Butler in New Orleans, 
and a strong friendship grew up between the two 
men. After the close of the war he obtained from 
the United States government a license to raise 
the ironclad Keokuk, sunk at Charleston, and also 
to raise other sunken vessels. When this work 
had been accomplished he settled in Boston, 
where he was superintendent of a water and alarm 
gauge company until 1869, when he purchased the 
General Derby place in East Derry. From his 
earliest youth it had been the dream of his life to 
own this historic estate, and now at the age of fifty 
his dream was realized. He expended nearly 
$60,000 in improving the farm and in making it 
the best in New Hampshire. It contains three 
hundred acres, half of which is under cultivation. 
Col. Lane put in nearly four miles of underground 
drainage, built extensive barns and stables, and 
began farming in a scientific, systematic way and 
with the thoroughness which characterized every- 
thing he undertook. The house (a cut of which 
is given on page 21), built in old English style in 
17^5' is 50 feet front, 45 feet deep, three-story, 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



319 



with observatory on top, two-story ell, 22 x 84. 
The cattle barn is 45 x 117; horse barn, 50 x 40 ; 
the work or repair shop, 20 x 30, contains horse- 
power to saw wood and thresh grain; the swine 
department is 20x40 ; the creamery is 18 x 20 with 
ell, with pony-power for makmg butter. The 
house was owned by General Derby in 1825, who 
was visited by Lafayette and his aides. Jud,a:e 
Prentice once lived there, as did also Judge Wood- 



.'^lt<4*$j... 




MRS. EMMA C. (KENT) LANE. 

bury, and Judge Doe was born there. Although 
the farm is on high land, there is a pond, fed by 
springs, back of the buildings which supplies them 
with running water. This pond, which is nine 
hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet 
wide, is 239.V feet higher than the railroad track at 
Derry Depot. 

Col. Lane was always actively interested in 
military affairs. He was a member of the Amos- 
keag Veterans of Manchester, and of the Gov- 



ernor's Horse Guards of Concord while they were 
in existence. In 1876 a company of infantry was 
organized in Candia, his native town, and attached 
to the first regiment of the l)rigade. It was named 
the Lane Rifles in honor of the colonel. The 
company was disbanded in 1887, and the equip- 
ments were taken to Derry for the use of a 
company organized there. Col. Lane was a 
member of St. Mark's Lodge, No. 44, A. F. and 
A. M., and of Gen. Stark Colony, Pilgrim Fathers, 
of Pelham. He was married three times, his last 
wife being Miss Emma C. Kent of Pelham, to 
whom he was united March 24, 1884. His death, 
which occurred Jan. 15, 1894, was mourned by 
hosts of personal friends and acquaintances, for 
although a man of iron will and at times a seem- 
ingly rough exterior, he had a tender heart, and 
there are many who can testify to his (|uiet deeds 
of charity. Giving employment to a great num- 
ber of men, he was a public benefactor and con- 
tributed much toward the material prosperity of 
Derry. The history of New England, rich though 
it is in examples of distinguished success attained 
under difficulties, shows very few instances of 
distinction won by men so heavily handicapped as 
was Col. Lane in his youth. All that is mortal of 
the colonel rests in Forest Hill Cemetery, East 
Derrv. 



A BOUT LIBRARIES.— It was in 1793 that 
^ the historian of New Hampshire, Dr. Bel- 
knap, recommended the establishment of social 
libraries in towns, and it was two years later that 
an association of gentlemen, among whom were 
Amos Weston, father of ex-Gov. Weston, Isaac 
Huse, Elijah A. Nutt, Samuel Jackson, Ben- 
jamin F. Stark, John Stark, Jr., Samuel P. Kidder, 
forty-seven in all, founded the Social Library of 
Derryfield. For about thirty years it seems to 
have supplied the needs of the town, and at the 
last recorded meeting of the shareholders Ephraim 
Stevens, Jr., Lieut. Job Rowell, and James Griffin 
were chosen directors, and Samuel Jackson 
librarian. 

It was about sixteen years later when the 
Manchester Atheneum was founded. The Amos- 
keag corporation gave $1,000, the Stark and Man- 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



Chester $500 each, and $500 was paid in member- 
ship fees, toward the new enterprise. The price 
of shares was fixed at $14, and young men were 
admitted to tiie reading room on payment of one 
half the value of a share. Admission to the 
library and reading room was $3 a year. The 
organization was as follows: Samuel D. Bell, 
president ; Cyrus W. Wallace, vice president ; 
David Gillis, Daniel Clark, and William P. Newell, 
directors; William C. Clarke, secretary; Herman 
Foster, treasurer ; David Hill, librarian. The 
rooms were in the second story of No. 6 Union 
block, recently the office of Lucien B. Clough. 
In his inaugural address of that year. Mayor 
Frederick Smyth advocated the establishment of 
a free public library, and several gentlemen con- 
nected with the Atheneum proposed to transfer 
its books and other articles of value to the city for 
that purpose. The offer was accepted with its 
conditions, which were, in brief, that not less than 
$1,000 a year should be appropriated for the pur- 
chase of books and periodicals, and that the 
current expenses be provided for. In the autumn 
of 1854 the library was removed to Patten's block 
and installed under the care of Samuel N. Bell. 
The board of trustees was as follows : Frederick 
Smyth, mayor, David Clark, president of the com- 
mon council, ex-oflicis ; Samuel D. Bell, Daniel 
Clark, David Gillis, William P. Newell, Ezekiel A. 
Straw, William C. Clarke, Samuel N. Bell. The 
last named was chosen treasurer and Francis B. 
Eaton, librarian. The library was open to the 
public Nov. 8, 1854. For a time the conveniences 
for delivery J were of the most primitive kind. 
There were about 4,000 books on the shelves, 
more than half of which were taken out in the first 
two months. Affairs, however, were soon put into 
better shape, and a reading room was opened. On 
the morning of Feb. 5, 1856, Patten's block was 
partially destroyed by fire and nearly all the books 
were burned. The volumes rescued were hastily 
removed to Smyth's block and quarters provided 
for them in Merchants' Exchange, where they 
remained for nearly a year. In the meantime new 
books were purchased, the old replaced as far as 
possible, and the public was served with but brief 
interruption. At the close of the year, better 
rooms were provided in Patten's block and the 



library was installed in its old place. Here it 
remained for about fourteen years, when the 
present building was erected by the city at a cost 
of $30,000 on land given for that purpose bv the 
Amoskeag Company. (See cut on page 147.) 
No member of the original board of trustees, 
except ex-Gov. Smyth, is living. Gentlemen who 
have been chosen as trustees since the first organ- 
ization in order of time are as follows: Lucien B. 
Clough, David Gillis, Samuel Webber, Phinehas 
Adams, Waterman Smith, Isaac W^. Smith, 
Nathan P. Hunt, Moody Currier, Thomas L. 
Livermore, Benjamin C. Dean, Herman F. Straw, 
Walter M. Parker. Charles D. McDuffie, and 
Frank P. Carpenter. Of the above Messrs. 
Clough, Gillis, Adams, and Waterman Smith have 
deceased, and Messrs. Webber, Livermore, and 
Dean have removed from tiie citv. The trustees 
at present are as follows : William C. Clarke, 
mayor, John T. Gott, president of the common 
council, ex-officis ; Isaac W. Smith, chosen in 
1872; Nathan P. Hunt, in 1873; Moody Currier, 
in 1876; Herman I^ Straw, in 1885; Walter M. 
Parker, in 1891 ; Charles D. McDuffie, in 1892; 
Frank P. Carpenter, in 1895. The librarians have 
served as follows: Francis B. Eaton, from 1854 
to 1863 ; Marshall P. Hall, October, 1863, to June. 
1865 ; Benjamin F. Stanton, June, 1865, to April, 
1866; Charles H. Marshall, April, 1 866, to 1877; 
Mrs. Mary Jane Davis Buncher, July, 1878, to 
February, 1894. Mrs. Buncher was succeeded by 
Miss Kate E. Sanborn, the present librarian. 

From time to time the library has received 
bequests and donations of considerable amount, 
the lara^est beintj that of Dr. Oliver Dean, which 
has now increased to nearly $7,000, and will be 
devoted to the purchase of technological and kin- 
dred treatises ; the Eliza Eaton bequest of 
$2,974.59 for the general purposes of the library, 
and the Mary E. Elliot fund of $1,039.28, to be 
devoted to the purchase of works on medical 
science. Ex-Gov. Moody Currier has given an 
edition of Bohn's classical publications and some 
of the early Christian Fathers, and the Hon. 
Gardner Bremer of Boston gave 683 volumes of 
various works, mostly of the Tauchnitz edition. 

Much of the work incident to the formation 
and progress of the library was gratuitously done 



WTLLErS book: of NUTFIRLD. 



32' 



by Hon. Samuel N. Bell, wiio was trustee and 
treasurer until his resignation in 1879, when he 
was succeeded by N. P. Hunt, who is practically 
the general manager of the library. It may be 
said that the library, valuable as it is, has been 
very much restricted as to its best use by the 
public from lack of proper catalogues and from 
the defective shelving, which, after a few years of 
growth, made it impossible to group works on 
kindred topics together. This was the fault of no 
one in |)articular, save that the appropriation for 



T^HE SNOW STORM OF 1888.— This storm 
^ was the most severe that has ever been 
known in Manchester. It began Sunday evening, 
March 11, very gently, continuing through the 
night and the next forenoon, when the gates of 
the Arctic regions seemed to have been opened, 
and the storm burst with terrific fury over the city. 
It lasted all that day and far into the night. The 
wind blew a gale, piling up mammoth drifts in 
picturesque forms, blockading the railway trains, 
and tearing down telegraph wires in all directions. 




EL.M SlRF.El, MANLHKS'l-ER. NEXT DAY AFTER THE IJIC. SIORM, MARCH I 3, I 8S8. 



current expenses was never large enough to 
warrant the introduction of a better system. It is 
indeed only in recent years that the business of 
the librarian has risen to the dignity of a profes- 
sion, while to shelve, catalogue, and make acces- 
sible to the public a large library, or one even with 
40,000 volumes, but which is growing every day, 
is no easy task. It is believed now, however, that 
the trustees have taken the matter in hand and 
that they are to he congratulated on having secured 
the services of such a competent librarian. 



Tuesday morning the snow was twenty inches 
deep, clinging to everything it touched, making 
artistic and grotesque images from the plainest 
and most obscure objects. Business men closed 
their stores and offices long before the usual hour 
on Monday and started home amid blinding sheets 
of snow that prevented one seeing an object a 
block distant. The barometer fell fi^om 30.68 to 
29.27 in twenty-four hours. The storm of March i, 
1886, was less severe in the quantity of snow, hut 
the wind was about eciual in velocity. 



322 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



MATTHEW THORNTON, one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence, was 
born in Ireland in 1714, his father, James Thorn- 
ton, emigrating to America two or three years 
later, and taking up his residence first at Wiscas- 
set, Me., and subsequently at Worcester, Mass., 
where the son was educated. He studied medicine 
and began practice in Londonderry about the year 
1740. Here he acquired a wide reputation as a 
physician, and in the course of several years of 
successful practice became comparatively wealthy, 
taking an influential part in the affairs of the town. 
In 1745 he joined the expedition against Cape 
Breton as a surgeon in the New Hampshire 
division of the army, consisting of five hundred 
men, and of the number only six died during the 
campaign, although they were subjected to exces- 
sive toil and constant exposure. The troops, 
a company of which was from Nutfield, under the 
command of Capt. John Moor, were employed, 
during fourteen successive nights, with straps over 
their shoulders and sinking to their knees in mud, 
in drawing cannon from the landing place to the 
camp, through a morass. Dr. Thornton's name 
appears frequently in the Nutfield records. In 
1758 he drew up and headed a memorial to Gov. 
Wentworth and the General Court, thanking him 
for their "late gracious Act, in which it is Stipu- 
lated that Londonderry shall have no more than 
three Taverns and two Retailers, for the present 
and four Ensuing years, and we had rather the 
number were diminished than increased." He 
was a representative to the General Court in 
I 758 - 60 and a moderator of the town meeting in 
1770-71, and again in 1776. He was president 
of the provincial convention which met May 17, 
1775, after the termination of the British govern- 
ment in New Hampshire, and was a member of 
the convention of Dec. 21, i 775, which afterward 
resolved itself into a house of representatives. In 
September, 1776, he was appointed bv that bodv 
a delegate to represent New Hampshire in Con- 
gress, but he did not take his seat until November, 
four months after the passage of the Declaration 
of Independence. He immediatelv acceded to it, 
however, and his signature is among those of the 
fifty-six immortals. He was subsequentlv appointed 
a judge of the superior court of New Hampshire, 



having previously been chief justice of the court 
of common pleas. His knowledge of the law 
seems to have been acquired by private study. 
He removed from Londonderry to Exeter, and 
later fixed his residence in Merrimack, having 
purchased the confiscated estate of Edward Gold- 
stone Lutwyche, situated on the Merrimack, near 
Lutwyche's (now Thornton's) Ferry. Judge 
Thornton died while on a visit to his daughter, 
Mrs. John McGaw, at Newburyport. The monu- 
ment over his grave in Merrimack bears this 
inscription : " Erected to the memory of the Hon. 
Matthew Thornton, Esq., who died June 24, 1803, 
aged eighty-nine years. The honest man." He 
was not onlv honest, but he had a ready wit, like 
most of the Scotch-Irish race. About the year 
1798 he attended as a spectator the sessions of the 
legislature, which met at Amherst, about eight 
miles from his home. Happening to meet a 
former neighbor of his at Nutfield, who was then 
a member of the legislature, and who was not dis- 
posed to underrate his own consequence, the latter 
said to the judge: "Do you not think the Gen- 
eral Court has much improved since vou had 
a seat in it ? Does it not possess more men of 
abilitv now and more eloquent speakers ? For 
then, vou know, there were but five or six who 
could talk ; but now all we farmers can make 
speeches." The judge replied: "To answer that 
question I will tell you a story about a farmer who 
lived a short distance from mv father's home in 
Ireland. He was very exemplarv in his observance 
of religious duties, and made it a constant practice 
to read a portion of Scripture every morning and 
evening before addressing the throne of grace. It 
happened one morning that he was reading the 
chapter which gives an account of Samson's 
catching three hundred foxes, when his wife inter- 
rupted him by saying: 'John, I'm sure that cannot 
be true, for our Isaac was as good a fox hunter as 
there was in the countrv, and he never caught but 
about twenty.' ' Nonsense ! ' replied the husband, 
' vou must not always take the Scripture just as it 
reads. Perhaps in the three hundred there might 
have been eighteen, or maybe twenty, that 
were real foxes ; the rest were all skunks and 
woodchucks.' " The legislator drew his own 
inferences and was silent. 



NUTFIELD RANGES AND BOUNDARIES. 



ALTHOUGH the boundaries of the original 
grant of Nutfield specified in the conveyance 
of John Wheelwright in 17 19 appear to have been 
very definite, it is nevertheless apparent, on close 
examination, that the only fixed line in the case 
was the bank of the Merrimack river, with no 
starting place, no distances, and no terminal point 
except the uncertain line of Dunstable. The 
boundaries of Chester were not fixed at that date ; 
consequently the northern limit of Nutfield was 
tentative. Haverhill limits were not settled, and 
Nutfield's eastern boundarv was likewise undeter- 
mined. The southern boundary of Nutfield, 
dependent upon the limits of Dracut and old Dun- 
stable, was indefinite, as the assumptions of their 
proprietors were not established by valid deeds, 
and in the settlement of the state line and the 
limitations of royal charters they did not touch 
Nutfield anywhere. But the western boundary of 
Nutfield could not be moved by the encroachments 
of neighbors or the decisions of the g^eneral court, 
although it is seen bv the charter of Londonderrv 
in 1722 that even the last definite boundary of 
Nutfield, the Merrimack river, was sacrificed to 
Litchfield, and no original side or corner can now 
be claimed as coinciding with the description 
afforded in the first deed. 

The accompanying map, covering about fifty 
square miles, includes the principal ranges and 
extends eastward two hundred and forty rods over 
the original line of Haverhill, southward nearly to 
the line of Windham, westward to Litchfield, and 
northward to Manchester. The Double, English, 
Layers, Aikens, High, South Double, Three 
Quarter Mile, Half Mile, Dock, Hill, Canada East, 
Middle, West, and Fourth Ranges, and a large 
number of short ranges not distinctively named, 
are included. For more than forty years, attempts 

3- 



have been made by various persons to draw a plan 
of the original allotments of land, and it is not 
claimed that the present map is absolutely perfect. 
Some of these persons had the first two volumes 
of the town records and worked for months inces- 
santly to put the descriptions in order upon a 
chart, but in the end each pronounced the result 
a failure and the undertaking impossible. Among 
those who gave a large amount of time to this 
patchwork without being able to make the pieces 
join together, were John N. Anderson, Col. Robert 
Thompson, Andrew W. Mack, Washington Per- 
kins, Joseph R. Clark, and Robert C. Mack. The 
last named, with help of his brother, who was 
a surveyor, approached the nearest to mapping the 
township, but his attempts failed in the end. He 
was able to prepare the ranges and locate the 
original settlers, and had plans in detatched por- 
tions for nearly every part of the town, but he 
found it impossible to join them together into one 
map. As already stated, this first and only map of 
the township, showing a plan of the farms, is not 
absolutely perfect, but the main features are cor- 
rect, and it contains all the elements necessary for 
the construction of the most accurate and com- 
plete drawing, as it was made from two indejien- 
dent copies of the town records, made for the 
purpose of continued and uninterrupted work, and 
indexed for this special undertaking. These two 
volumes of the town records are paged drfiferently 
from the originals in the keeping of the town 
clerk, and to facilitate any further improvement in 
this map or in others, numbers are placed on the 
map to indicate the pages in the records where 
full descriptions of the lots are to be found. The 
numbers with dashes below them indicate the 
pages of the second volume, and the others the 
pages of the first volume. 



1 1 ^ 







STATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 



IN 1855 the state legislature authorized the the school has been under the management of a 

governor and council to appoint a board of board of seven trustees, appointed by the governor 

three commissioners, empowered to buy a tract of and council, who have yearly chosen a superinten- 

land and erect buildings thereon, to provide a dent. The law requires that one or more of the 

" house of reformation for juvenile male and trustees shall visit the institution every two weeks, 

female offenders against the law." Popular sen- at which time the scholars shall be examined in 

timent at the time seemed to be hostile to the the schoolroom and workshops. Once in three 

measure, and it required several years to demon- months a majority of the trustees are required to 

strate its wisdom. Hon. Frederick Smyth of examine the institution in all its departments and 

Manchester, Hon. Matthew Harvey of Concord, make a report showing the results of their exami- 

and Hosea Eaton of New Ipswich were appointed nations. The superintendent, who is also treas- 

commissioners, and they selected as the site for urer of the school, has charge of the funds, lands, 



the proposed institu- 
tion the farm which 
was once the home 
of Gen. John Stark, 
nearly two miles 
north of the Man- 
chester city hall, on 
the Merrimack river 
ro a d , containing 
about one hundred 
acres. The price paid 
was $10,000, and 
another piece of ten 
acres was purchased 
soon after at a cost 
of $ 1 ,000. The build- 
i n g, which cost 
$34,000, was begun 
in the spring of 1856 




blATE INDLSTRIAL SCHOOL, MANCHESTER. 



buildings, and all 
other property. In 
addition to his other 
duties he is required 
to keep a register 
containing the name, 
residence, and age of 
each scholar, with 
the date and term of 
commitment and the 
time and manner of 
discharge. If any 
scholar is found in- 
corrigible and his 
continuance in 
school prejudicial to 
its ;management and 
discipline, steps are 
taken 'to have him 



and was readv fur occupancy in the spring of 1S58. removed. Instances of this kind are not frequent, 

It was dedicated May 12 of that year, the address but they sometimes happen. The trustees have 

on the occasion being delivered by Hon. T. M. the right to bind out any scholar as an apprentice 

Edwards of Keene, author of the bill establishing or servant to any inhabitant of the state of good 

the institution. The first superintendent of the moral and religious character, for any time not 

school was Brooks Shattuck, who continued in exceeding the term for which he was sent to the 

charge until April, 1866, when he was succeeded school. Any scholar distinguishing himself by his 

by Isaac H. Jones, who remained about four years, obedience, diligence, and good conduct, may be 

and was followed by Edward Ingham. The latter discharged by the trustees at the annual examina- 

also remained four years, and was then succeeded tion, and the superintendent also has the power to 

by John C. Ray, whose date of appointment was let any of the boys or girls out on probation, if he 

July 2, 1874. The institution continued to bear sees fit to do so. All minors under seventeen 

its original name until 1878, when it was changed years of age who may be delivered to the superin- 

to Reform School, and in 1882 it was given the tendent with a proper warrant for their detention, 

name which it now bears. From its establishment by a proper officer, are received at the school. 

325 



32C 



WIL LET'S BOOK OP NUTFIELD. 



About 1,500 have been committed to the school 
since its organization. The number in the school 
April I, 1895, was: boys, loi ; girls, 17; total, 118. 
The institution is supported by an annual appro- 
priation of $6,000 from the state ; by the interest 
on a legacy of $6,000 from the estate of James 
McKeen Wilkins of Manchester; by the interest 
on a legacy of $3,000 from the estate of Moody 
Kent of Pembroke; bv a legacy of $1,000 left by 
Miss Louisa Penhallow of Portsmouth for the 
purchase of books; by the interest on a fund of 
$400 established by Hon. Frederick Smyth, in 
memory of Emily Smyth, for the purchase of 
books to be distributed as prizes among meri- 
torious scholars ; and by the income from the shops 
and farm. For a number of years the annual 
income from the chair shop was nearly $5,000. 
There is also a factory in which stockings are 
knitted by machinery, which has yielded a hand- 
some profit. The town from which any person is 
committed is required to pay to the trustees for 
his board or instruction a sum not exceeding $1.50 
per week. The total annual receipts amount to 
about $15,000, and the expenditures about the 
same. The institution has grown and prospered 




C. M. FLinUS CI.OlHINi; MlJkK, MAN'CH KM lik 



from the very first, the only serious misfortune 
which it has met being an incendiary fire which 
nearly destroyed the building Dec. 20, 1865. The 
property was insured for $20,000, of which sum 
the appraisers decided to pay $17,000, which the 
trustees refused to accept. They claimed that the 
companies should either pay the full sum or put 
the building: in as arood condition as it was before 
the fire. The insurance companies finally agreed 
to do the latter, and the building was rebuilt. 
How poorly it was done was shown by the large 
amount of money expended since then for neces- 
sary repairs and alterations. Some of the trustees 
regretted that the offer of the appraisers had not 
been accepted and that they had not expended the 
money themselves. After the fire the inmates 
were kept temporarily in the Stark house and the 
Gamble house, which stood near by. During then" 
occupancy of the former it was set on fire and 
consumed. In 1867 the Gamble estate was pur- 
chased at a cost of $2,590. Later additions to the 
property have been made by the purchase of the 
Prince estate for $5,000 and of sixty-five acres of 
pasture land in Weare and Deering. The farm 
now ranks as one of the best in New Hampshire. 

Many a boy has gone out 
from the institution and 
become a useful and re- 
spected member of societ3^ 
and many a girl has helped 
to make a happy home. 
Amono- those who have 
been inmates of the school 
the records show that one 
has become a successful 
jihvsician, another a rail- 
way conductor, another a 
chief engineer of a fire 
department in a large city, 
while a host have become 
good farmers, good me- 
chanics, and sober, honest 
men. (See biographical 
sketch and portrait of 
Hon. John C. Ray, super- 
intendent and treasurer of 
the State Industrial School, 
page 264.) 



WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



327 



CHARLES MILLER FLOYD is a native trade, is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights 
of Derry, born June 5, 1861, son of Sewell of Pythias, Patrons of Husbandry, and of the 
and Sarah J. (Sleeper) Floyd, his father being; a Calumet and Derryfield Clubs, 
farmer and both parents being natives of Derry. 
He attended the common schools and Pinkerton 




w 



ILLIAM W. POOR was born April i, 
1833, in Derry, in the house where he now 
resides. On his father's side he is descended from 
John Poor, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 
1636, the line of descent being: John,' John," 
Jonathan,' Daniel,^ David,' John,' John C.,' Wil- 
liam W.' The family took its origin in this 
manner: Prince Henry, third son of William the 
Conqueror, found a poor friar in the wilds of 
Normandy who had the rare ability to make short 
prayers. This pleased the prince and satisfied his 



CHARLES M. FLOVD. 

Academy Of Derrv, and started out early to win 
fame and -.fortune. He first went to Haverhill, 
Mass., working three years in a hardware store 
and then three more in a clothing establishment. 
Returning to Derry, he was employed for a while 
in a shoe shop, but his liking for active business 
caused him to locate in Manchester, where he 
bought out the old established clothing house of 
Cumner »&. Co. He introduced some modern im- 
provements into the store, and soon built up an ex- 
tensive business. In September, 1893, he bought 
out the Manchester One Price Clothing Company, 
and has since personally managed one of the largest 
and best equipped clothing houses in the state. 

He also conducts a large clothing store in Nashua, conscience, and the man was instantly invited to 
He married Carrie E. Atwood on Sept. 16, 1887, become chaplain to his royal highness. Not 
and has one child, Marion B., aged five years, unwilling, the poor friar packed his few belongings 
He is a member of the board of education, served and the next hour was a follower in the noble 
in 1892 and 1893 as a director of the board of train. When Henry became king of England the 




WILLIAM W. POOR. 



328 



WJLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



chaplain was made prime minister, and on the 
assumption of surnames he became Roger Poor, 
with the legend : "Pauper, non in spe " — "Poor, 
not in hope." The family is descended from the 
brothers of this man, who were men of muscle and 
valuable aids to the king in his wars and quarrels, 
and who received large grants of land and titles of 
nobility in return for their fidelity. Careful inves- 
tigation shows that there are very few of the name 
who cannot trace their origin to this source. On 
his mother's side Mr. Poor is descended from 
Robert Boyce, a charter member of the town of 
Londonderry, and for forty years a magistrate of 
the colony of New Hampshire. The line of 
descent is Robert,' Alexander,- Susan,' William W.^ 
He also claims descent in the sixth generation 
from Robert Calef of Boston, who dared to con- 
tend with Cotton Mather and the clergy and 
magistrates of Massachusetts over the iniquitous 
witchcraft delusion. Calef's published works were 
publicly burned for heresy in the yard of Harvard 
College in 1700. Mr. Poor, being the youngest 
member of his father's family, was obliged to 
remain at home to watch over his parents in their 
declining days, a duty he faithfully performed. 
His father died in 1884 at the age of eighty-seven 
years. In youth he received the usual education 
afforded by a country district school, and later at 
intervals studied several terms at Pinkerton 
Academy. No fixed curriculum was then pre- 
scribed at that institution, the student selecting 
and continuing such studies as suited his tastes. 
Mr. Poor became proficient in mathematics, pur- 
suing his studies to the end of the textbooks and 
beyond. On reaching his majority he was placed 
in many positions of trust. He was made a deputy 
sheriff before he was twenty-two years old, and 
later was selectman four years, representative to 
the general court two terms, member of the state 
constitutional convention in 1876, trial justice of 
Rockingham county for twenty-five years, and in 
1895 was made first justice of the newly organized 
police court of Derry. He has also presided at 
twenty-seven town meetings in Derry, leading in 
this respect all predecessors. He has never sought 
office outside his own town, and has always dis- 
couraged the use of his name in connection with 
political honors. He always votes the Republican 



ticket if the candidate is worthy, and he also takes 
an active part in every question of local interest. 
Dec. 27, 1859, he married Clara A., daughter of 
Leonard and Clarissa (Taylor) Brickett, and has 
three daughters and one son by the union. 



TOHN DUNCAN PATTERSON, now of 
<J Manchester, N. H., was the oldest son of 
Thomas and Hannah (Duncan) Patterson, and 




JOHN DUNCAN PATTERSON. 

was born in Londonderry April 13, i82i,onthe 
old Patterson homestead. This farm of 150 acres 
was first owned by Peter Patterson, then by his 
son Thomas, who married Elizabeth Wallace. 
He gave it to his son Thomas, who married 
Hannah Duncan, daughter of John and Jane 
(McMurphy) Duncan. Thomas Patterson gave it 
to his son, John Duncan Patterson. This home- 
stead was thus owned by four generations of the 



WiLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



329 



Patterson family. Mr. Patterson was married in 
Candia Sept. 24, 1846, to Hannah Eaton, daughter 
of Henry and Hannah Eaton, who was born 
April 7, 1823. Their son, William Wallace Pat- 
terson, was born Sept. 29, 1847, and graduated 
from Dartmouth in 1868. He now resides in 
California and is not married. Their daughter, 
Hannah Elizabeth Patterson, was born Jan. 19, 
1850. She married Judge Henry E. Burnham of 
Manchester Oct. 22, 1874. Mr. Burnham was 
born in Dunbarton, N. H., Nov. 8, 1844. They 
have three daughters: Gertrude Elizabeth Burn- 



Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of 
Knights Templar of New Hampshire. In politics 
Mr. Patterson is a Republican. 



ROBERT MACK, son of Andrew and Isabella 
(Clark) Mack, was born in Londonderry 
Feb. 16, 1784. He was a grandson of John Mack, 
who came from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1732 and 
settled in the West Parish. Working on his 
father's farm and in the blacksmith shop until he 
attained his majority, he established himself, in 




^*. <:M^'''- 



WMmm 







.*- 2?- 







I s jip.i iffl'll, 



1 • Wi *^^' 



THE PATTERSON HOMESTEAD, LONDONDERRY. 



ham, born Jan. 28, 1876, who is now in her sopho- 
more year at Wellesley College ; Alice Patterson 
Burnham, born Feb. 9, 1878, who is now a pupil 
at the Manchester High School, and Edith 
Duncan Burnham, liorn March 16, 1885, who is 
now attending the Lincoln Grammar School. 

In Masonrv Mr. Patterson has attained to 
the thirty-second degree. He has been High 
Priest of Mt. Horeb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, 
Commander of Trinity Commandery of Man- 
chester, N. H., Grand High Priest of the Grand 
Roval Arch Chapter, Grand Commander and 



1807, as a blacksmith at New Boston, remainingr 
there and at Milford until 18 13, when he returned 
to Londonderry, built a house, and married Annie, 
daughter of Deacon Robert Clark of New Boston, 
who was related to the Clarks and Wallaces of 
Nutfield. He was town clerk in 18 14, '16, '18, 
and '20, alternating with Major Peter Patterson 
of the East Parish ; was selectman twelve vears, 
and member of the legislature five years. His 
knowledge of local historv and genealogy was 
unsurpassed, and his authority unquestioned. Mr. 
Mack died Se])t. 9, 1870, in his eightv-seventh year. 



i3o 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



TASON J. KIMBALL, son of Levi and Mar- 
^ garet (Jones) Kimball, was born in Wind- 
ham, Vt., March 2, 1829. Both his parents were 
musical, and he early manifested a decided talent 
for his chosen profession. So proficient did he 
become in youth that at the age of sixteen he led 
a chorus of thirty-five voices, in which were six 
members of his own family. In 1856 he went to 
Boston and pursued his vocal studies under B. F. 
Baker, Mme. Frazer, and Myron W. Whitney, 
receiving instruction also from the best masters in 
harmony, John K. Paine, O. B. Brown, and Kellar. 




JASON J. KIMBALL. 

During his long stay in Boston Mr. Kimball 
became prominent as a bass soloist of pronounced 
ability and a director of musical societies. The 
musical atmosphere in which he lived well fitted 
him for his future work. Coming to Manchester 
in 1872, he devoted the rest of his life to upbuild- 
ing and improving music in the city, and in this 
noble work no one has accomplished more than 
he. For twenty-three years he had charge of the 
musical instruction in the public schools of Man- 
chester, and many of the leading singers of the 
city were numbered among his private pupils. 



His work in the schools was successful in the 
highest degree, and hundreds are indebted to him 
for all they ever learned of music. His rare 
ability as a musical director was demonstrated in 
May, 1895, at the opening concert of the Philhar- 
monic Society, when the public had the oppor- 
tunity of listening to the excellent work of a 
chorus of six hundred voices from the higher 
grades of the Manchester schools under his leader- 
ship. Throughout New Hampshire and adjoining 
states he was well known as a soloist, and he is 
still remembered in Boston for the prominent part 
he took in the famous concerts of the Handel and 
Haydn society. His death occurred suddenly at 
his home on the evening of Sept. 27, 1895. There 
had been a rehearsal of the LTnitarian choir, of 
which he was a member and leader, and after the 
singers had gone home Mr. Kimball was playing 
on an old Cremona violin which his brother had 
brouofht from Washington, and Mrs. C. E. Burn- 
ham was accompanying him on the piano. They 
had reached the last bar of the selection. Raff's 
Cavatina, which Mr. Kimball played with the most 
beautiful expression, when he suddenly made a 
discord. Without looking up, the accompanist 
said : " Don't stop ! " but it was death's hand that 
made the discord, and the player, falling to the 
floor, expired before the echoes of his music had 
died away. Death was due to heart disease, from 
which deceased had suffered his first attack a few 
days previously. Possessed of a social, genial 
temperament, Mr. Kimball had the faculty of 
making friends and holding them, and his memory 
is cherished in loving regard by thousands, young 
and old. He was a member of the Masonic 
Order, thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite, of 
DeMolay Commandery, K. T., of Boston, and of 
the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Kimball was married in 
1864 to Miss Celia B. Mann of South Decrfield, 
Mass., who survives him. She is a relative of 
Horace Mann, the educator. 



WILLIAM SCOBY, a native of Ireland, died 
in Londonderrv (N. H.) at the age of one 
hundred and ten years. When he was one hundred 
years of age he travelled on foot from London- 
derry to Portsmouth, thirty-five miles, in one day. 



WTLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIFLD. 



33t 



ALLEN N. CLAPP, one of the leading- busi- 
ness men of Manchester, traces his ancestry 
on the paternal side to Thomas Clapp, who was 
born in England in 1597, and came to this 
country in 1633. The line is as follows: Thomas, 
Thomas, Joshua, Joshua, Joshua, Asa, Allen, 
Allen N. His father, Allen Clapp, was born in 
Walpole, April 28, 1794, and died in Marlborough 
Feb. 9,1838. He mar- 
ried, Feb. 10, 18 ig, 
Hannah Newcomb, 
and their family con- 
sisted of seven chil- 
dren, Allen N. being 
the youngest. He is 
descended on the 
maternal side from 
l^ancis Newcomb, 
who was born in Eng- 
land about 1605, came 
to America in April, 
1635, and settled in 
Boston. The line is 
as follows : Francis, 
Peter, Jonathan, Ben- 
jamin, John, Hannah, 
born Feb. 25, 1793, 
died May 16, 1846. 
Allen N. Clapp was 
born in Marlborouafh 



are extensive. 




A 



Jan. 



18 



J/- 



His 



father having died 
soon after, his mother 
removed to Nashua, 
and here young Clapp 
received the rudi- 
ments of his educa- 
tion. He also attended the high school, and sul)- 
sequently passed one year at the McGaw Institute, 
Merrimack. When about nineteen years of age 
he came to Manchester as clerk in the employ of 
Ira Barr, with whom he remained in that capacity 
until i860. He then formed a co-partnership with 
Mr. Barr, under the firm name of Barr & Clapp, 
in the mercantile business. This business was 
continued under the same firm name until 1881, 
when Mr. Clapp purchas«d Mr. Barr's interest, 

and has since conducted the business as sole 

33 




proprietor. The large brick block now owned 
and occupied by Mr. Clapp, located at the corner 
of Granite and Main streets, was completed in 
January, 1871. It is the largest block in West 
Manchester. In addition to dealing in groceries, 
flour, grain, etc., Mr. Clapp is the New Hampshire 
agent for the Standard Oil Company, and his sales 
Mr. Clapp was elected alderman 
in 1861 and 1862, and 
represented Ward 7 
in the legislature in 
1874 and 1875. At 
his first election an 
effort was made to 
unseat him, but with- 
out success. Politi- 
cally, he is a Republi- 
can, and he attends the 
Hanover-Street Con- 
gregational c h u r c h. 
Mr. Clapp is one of 
M a n c h e s t e r's most 
active and influential 
iuisiness men, and has 
done much to advance 
the interests of West 
Manchester. May 25, 
1863, Mr. Clapp 
united in marriage 
with Josie M. Mason, 
a native of Sullivan, 
and their family has 
consisted of two chil- 
dren, Annie M. and 
Freddie. The latter 
died in infancy. 



^l#" 



ALLEN N. CLAPP. 



HORACE P. WATTS, who was for many 
years closely identified with the business and 
religious interests of Manchester, was born on the 
old Whittemore farm, below Goffe's Falls, in 1820. 
He was the son of Daniel and Polly (Darrah) 
Watts, and his education was received in the 
common schools and subsequently at J^inkerton 
Academ)^ The early part of his active life was 
devoted to farming, in which pursuit his father was 
also very successful. He settled first in London- 
derry, where he took an influential part in public 



332 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



affairs, representing the town in the legislature 
and serving as a member of the board of commis- 
sioners of Rockingham county. About the year 
1865 he sold his Londonderry farm and came to 
Manchester to engage in the grain business with 
A. F. Hall, and later with W. F. Holmes, who 
became his son-in-law. The firm's mill was located 
on the Piscataquog water privilege, and here they 
built up a large and profitable business, which was 
conducted with great success until the destruction 
of the mill by fire in 1875. Mr. Holmes then 
went West, and Mr. Watts became interested 
with him there in many prosperous financial enter- 
prises, including the First National bank of Cassel- 
ton. Dak., and the Security Loan and Trust 
Company of the same place, of which latter 
institution Mr. Watts was president. He was 
one of the original directors of the Manches- 
ter National bank and was also a director in the 
Nashua & Lowell railroad. Judicious investments 
in Manchester real estate and in railroad securities 
enabled him to amass a large fortune. The only 
public service which he rendered in Manchester 
was during his membership of the board of asses- 
sors for one year, but he was one of the original 
and most active members of the Board of Trade, 
and his counsels were highly valued by his 
business associates and by the community at large. 
His name was synonymous with the highest honor 
and the strictest integrity, and he possessed the con- 
fidence of the people of Manchester to an extent 
enjoyed by few. One of his most conspicuous 
services to the community was his assistance in 
the erection of the First Congregational church 
on Hanover street. Mr. Watts was the first to 
suggest the building of a new house of worship, 
and it was he who contributed most liberally of 
his time and money to carry the project to success- 
ful completion (see page 88). He was a man of 
unostentatious piety, and religion was an actual, 
vital part of his daily life and business transactions. 
Mr. Watts was married in early life to Miss 
Maria Boyd, a descendant of one of the old 
families of Londonderry. His death occurred 
Aug. 14, 1890, and he was survived by a widow 
and two daughters : Mrs. Rosecrans W. Pillsbury 
of Londonderry and Miss Mary Alice Watts. 
Mrs. Walts died March 28. 1895. 



ZACCHEUS COLBURN, youngest child of 
Zaccheus and Rachel (Hills) Colburn, was 
born in Nottingham West (now Hudson), Jan. 5, 
1 80 1. His preparatory education was received in 
the common schools and at Pinkerton, Atkinson, 
and Bradford academies. In the spring of 1824 
he entered the freshman class of Brown Univer- 
sity and graduated in 1827. During his senior 

year he began the 
studv of medi- 
cine, which he 
continued after 
graduation with 
Dr. John C. War- 
ren of Boston, 
where he also at- 
tended lectures 
at the Harvard 
Medical Scliool. 
He pursued his 
medical studies at 
Bowdoin College 
from w h i c h lie 
received the de- 
gree of M. D. in 
ZACCHEUS coLiiURN. May, 1829. Be- 

ginning practice 
with his brother, Dr. Elijah Colburn, at Nashua, 
he remained there until 1831, when he removed to 
Hudson, where he practised his profession until 
1838, and was the only regular physician in the 
town during that time. In the spring of 1838 he 
came to Manchester and later became city physi- 
cian and a member of the board of health, holding 
also a commission as justice of the peace. Going 
to California in i8s2, he worked at mining for 
a time and then opened an office for the practice 
of his profession in North San Juan, where he 
remained until his return to Manchester in 1859. 
His death occurred Nov. 21, 1864. Dr. Colburn 
was married June i, 1831, to Mary Phelps, by 
whom he had seven children, one of whom, 
William Gardner, born Sept. 4, 1835, graduated at 
Harvard in i860 with high honors, was subse- 
quently assistant attorney general, and died in 
Manchester in 1875. Mrs. Colburn died in 
March, 1849, at the age of forty-two, and Dr. 
Colburn later married Judith Maria Morse, who 




WILLETS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



335 



still survives. By her he had three chil- 
dren, two of whom, Charles Henry, horn 
in May, 1852, and Arthur Morse, born 
in May, i860, are still living. 



GEORGE H. IIARD\', son of War- 
ren and Edna (Ayer) Hardy, was 
born in Manchester June 12, i860, and 
received his education at the public and 
at private schools. Beginning the study 
of medicine with Ur. Nash and continu- 
ing it with Dr. Parsons, he entered Dart- 
mouth Medical School with the class of 
1880. During one vacation he worked 
for J. W. C. Pickering, who is in the mill 
business at Lowell, but who owned a 
clothing store at No. 856 Elm street. 
Charles H. Cushman antl Mr. Hardy 
conducted his Manchester business for 
him, and finally, in 1885, he sold out to 
them, and the Cushman & Hardy Com- 
pany was formed. Mr. Plardy had not 
relinquished his plan of studying medicine and 





GEORGE H. HARDY. 



STORE OF THE CUSHMAN & HARDY COMPANY. 

intended to enter mercantile life only temporarily 
but the business of the firm expanded so rapidly 
that he decided not to abandon it. The growtli 
of trade soon demanded larger quarters, and the 
firm removed to the stand now occupied by 
Temple & Farrington, and later to their present 
location, absorbing, in 1895, the store then occu- 
pied by A. M. Eastman. The Cushman & Hardy 
Company now has the largest clothing and fur- 
nishing goods store north of Boston, and with 
more square feet of space than any similar estab- 
lishment in northern New England. The firm, 
of which Mr. Hardy has been sole proprietor since 
Mr. Cushman's death, Dec. i, 1895, does an 
extensive business and has, with the exception of 
a few Boston stores, the largest and most com- 
plete children's department in New England. 
The clerical force has numbered thirty-four in 
busy seasons, twenty-six being employed at the 
present time. Mr. Hardy is a prominent member 
of many fraternal and social organizations, includ- 
ing the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the 
American Mechanics, the Elks, the Red Men, and 
the Cygnet Boat Club, and he attends the First 



33<> 



WILLS rs BOOK OF NUTFIBLD. 



Baptist church. Mr. Hardy married Florence A. 
Bradley of this city, and they have two children : 
Percival Ray, aged seven, and Nattile, aged four. 



NATHAN JOHNSON was born in London- 
derry Sept. 23, 1806, the son of Nathan and 
Betsey (Robinson) Johnson. When he was five 
years of age his parents removed to Manchester, 




Olivia, Nathan, Climena, and two infants. All 
are dead except Olivia. Oct. 25, 1856, he was 
married to Hannah C. Rollins of Manchester, and 
three children were born to them : Ella C, Hattie 
Louise, the wife of Carol C. Oldham, and Charles, 
died May 25, 1878, at the age of fifteen months. 



NATHAN JOHNSON. 

where he has since lived, and where his education 
was obtained. He has always followed the occu- 
pation of farming, and he owns valuable property 
near Lake Massabesic. Mr. Johnson has never 
sought public office, but he has served acceptably 
as a member of the common council and as 
highway surveyor. He attends the First Metho- 
dist church at East Manchester, in which he has 
been a class leader and trustee for many years. 
Mr. Johnson has been twice married, his first wife 
being Climena Clogston of Goffstown, by whom 
he had seven children : Betsey, James McKane, 



/^HARLES H. COLBURN, son of Dr. Zac- 
^^ cheus and Judith (Morse) Colburn, was born 
in Manchester May 22, 1852. After graduating 
from the city schools, he learned the trade of car- 
penter and builder, and for twenty-five years has 
been a successful contractor and builder. During 
that time he has constructed some of the finest 
residences in this city, including the homes of 
L V ni a n Col b y, 
O.D. Knox,Chas. 
Brown, Edward 
Plummer, Alon- 
zo Day, and Geo. 
Morrill, for the 
last two of which 
he drew the plans. 
Mr. Colburn has 
also built a num- 
ber of houses for 
himself and has 
begun the erec- 
tion of a fine resi- 
dence on Chest- 
nut street, which, 
when completed, 
will be one of the 
best arranged 
houses in the city. 

He is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, of the American Mechanics, of the 
Knights of Pythias, of the Red Men, and of 
various other secret organizations. For eleven 
years he was an active member of the Manchester 
fire department. Mr. Colburn was married Jan. i, 
1876, to Fannie H. Robie of Chester, and has one 
son nineteen years of age. He has been very 
successful in business, and his financial ventures 
have had fortunate issue. 




CHARLES H. COLDURN. 




/i^£ 



'-^>Z-Z^, 



C^ . ' xl^i 



i-'t-'E^'t-'Z^ 



^, 



HON. HENRY E. BURNHAM. 



HON. HENRY E. BURNHAM has for many powers which have since distinguished his career, 
years been one of the most conspicuous After studying law in the offices of Minot & 
figures at the New Hampshire bar, while his fame Mugridge of Concord and E. S. Cutter and Judge 
as a public speaker extends far beyond the con- Lewis W. Clark of Manchester, he was admitted 
fines of the state. Distinction has come to him to the bar in 1868 and at once opened an office in 
unsought, but as the natural result of his versatile this city, where he has since practised his profes- 
talents. The onlv child of Henry L. and Maria A. sion, at first alone and subsequently for several 
(Bailey) Burnham, he was born in Dunbarton years with Judge David Cross as partner, and later 
Nov. 8, 1S44, being a descendant in the eighth with George I. McAllister. His present partners 
generation from John Burnham, who came from are Albert O. Brown and George H. Warren. 
Norfolk county, England, in 1635, '^'id settled in Judge Burnham has persistently refused offers of 
Esse.x, Mass. Here the family lived until 1770, political preferment, so strong have been the 
when Samuel Burnham, the great-grandfather of charms of professional life. He was, however, a 
Henry E., removed to Dunbarton, where his son member of the legislature in 1873-74; treasurer 
Bradford and his grandson Henry L. were born, of Hillsborough county and associate justice of 
Oliver Bailey, who was Judge Burnham's maternal the Manchester police court; member of the con- 
great-grandfather, and Josiah Bailey, his maternal stitutional convention of 1889 ; and for three years, 
grandfather, were also natives of Dunbarton, where 1876-79, judge of probate of Hillsborough county, 
his mother was born July 12, 1820. His father, whence his judicial title is derived. In the finan- 
who was born Nov. 25, 1814, was for thirty years cial world Judge Burnham's acumen and excellent 
a successful teacher and one of the public-spirited judgment are widely recognized. He is president 
citizens of Dunbarton, representing the town in of the Mechanics' Savings bank, has been first 
both branches of the legislature and serving as vice-president of the Manchester Board of Trade 
commissioner and as high sheriff of Merrimack and a director in many business corporations, 
county. On his father's side Judge Burnham is Always deeply interested in the charities and edu- 
related to Nathan Dane, a member of the Conti- cational institutions of the city. Judge Burnham is 
nental Congress of 1787 and the author of the a member of the advisory committee of the Chil- 
" Ordinance of '87," for the government of the dren's Home and has performed most valuable 
territory north and west of the Ohio river, and service on the school board. He is prominent in 
providing for the exclusion of slavery from all that Masonry and Odd Fellowship, having filled the 
vast region. With such blood in his veins, it is highest office in the Grand Lodge of the state in 
not difficult to understand Judge Burnham's the former body in 1885 and been active in the 
character and the success he has achieved. His latter organization. His oration at the dedication 
early life was spent on his father's farm and in of Masonic Hall in Manchester, in 1890, and his 
attendance at the district school. He prepared address as commander of the Amoskeag Veterans 
for college at the Kimball Union Academy in at Worcester on Bunker Hill dav, 1892, were 
Meriden, and entering Dartmouth in 1861, gradu- notable efforts ; while his poem, delivered at the 
ated with high honors four years later, having centennial celebration of Dunbarton, gave evidence 
taught school during the winter vacations. His of what he might have accomplished if he had 
selection as one of the disputants at commence- chosen to cultivate literature. Judge Burnham 
ment exercises, when he discussed the Monroe was married Oct. 22, 1874, to Elizal)eth H., daugh- 
doctrine with Horace Russell, who has since ter of John D. Patterson of Manchester; and three 
become a judge in New York state, shows that he daughters, Gertrude E., Alice P., and Edith D., 
had already developed the oratorical and logical have been added to the family. 

339 



34° 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD, 




BOARD OF TRADE OFFICERS, l8^6. (SEE PAGE I 24.) 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD 



34t 



ELDER CHARLES R. CROSSETT, JR., 
was born at Warehouse Point, Conn., Oct. 
28, 1847, his parents being Charles R. and Mary 
(Colson) Crossett. He resided in Springfield, 

Mass., until 1880, 
when he removed 
to this city, and 
was pastor of the 
Arlington-Street 
Ad\ent church for 
three years and a 
half. During the 
next three years, 
from 1883 to r886, 
he was settled at 
Portsmouth. He 
then returned to 
Manchester, where 
he has since re- 
mained. Mr. Cros- 
sett was married 
June 6, 1868, to 
Fannie S., daughter of Henrv and Sarah (Perkins 
Ashley) Hubbard, and they have three cliildren. 




ELDER CHAS. R. CROSSETI', JR. 



^P 



li^i- 



m 







REV. FRANCIS S. BACON, 
Pastor of People's Tabernacle, Manchester. 



IK"^- -L- 



'ii;^tfiT'">f"^'i'^*^i 



V-.^4.iii.-i t 



MDND5,WATC 



AND/ JEWELR 




CARL W. ANDERSON S JEWELRY STORE. 



342 



WILLE7''S BOOK OP NUTFIELD. 



MICHAEL O'DOWD was born in Ireland faculties unimpaired, and may be seen in her place 
Dec. 2 2, 1844, and is the sixth son of James at St. Raphael's church every Sunday at divine 
and Mary (Moran) O'Dowd. His two eldest service. Mr. O'Dowd is president of the local 
brothers, John and James, came to Manchester in branch of the Irish National Federation, and is a 
the spring of 1857, and the family has had repre- member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the 

Board of Trade, and the Granite State Club. 




MICHAEL O DOWD. 

sentativcs in this city all the intervening years, 
although James enlisted in the Twentieth Massa- 
chusetts Volunteer Regiment and served honor- 
ably until the close of the War of the Rebellion. 
Michael followed his elder brothers to America in 
1866, and has made Manchester his home ever 
since. He began the clothing business at his 
present location in 1879 and has built up a pros- 
perous trade. Nov. 28, 1878, he married Miss 
Margaret Davy, and their union has been blessed 
by an interesting family of six boys and one girl, 
five of whom survive, viz.: Mary H., aged 15 
years; Henry D., 11; Matthew, 9 ; Hugh D., 6; 
Thomas K., 3 years. Mr. O'Dowd's father died 
July 28, 1878, aged 78 years. His mother still 
lives at No. 69 Dover street, West Manchester, 
which has been the family homestead for thirty 
years. Although the venerable lady is in her 
ninetieth year, she is still possessed of all her 



PATRICK HARRINGTON, son of Daniel 
and Helen Harrington, was born in Ireland 
March 15, 1839, and came with his parents to 
America in May, 1847. His education was 
received in the public schools of Manchester, and 
shortly after leaving school he was employed by 
the Manchester Print Works for six years. He 
then became a grocer's clerk, and in 1865 started 
in that business for himself and followed it for 
thirty years, until 1895. In 1872 he received the 
Manchester agency for the Eldredge Brewing 
Company, which he still retains. He was one of 
the organizers of the Portsmouth Brewing Com- 
pany, of which he has been a director for the last 
ten years. He was a charter member of the Man- 
chester Board of 
Trade, and has 
been a prominent 
factor in the ma- 
terial development 
of the city, as is 
attested by the 
handsome and sub- 
stantial Harring- 
ton building on 
Lake avenue, and 
is one of Manches- 
ter's heaviest tax- 
payers. In politics 
Mr. Harrington is 
a Democrat, and 
he was a member 
of the common 

council in 1874. He was married Nov. 29, 1865, 
to Miss Margaret, daughter of James and Ann 
Carey of Manchester. Their children are : James 
P., William F., Lawrence J., Helen J., Annie F., 
and Mary C. In 1895 Mr. Harrington purchased 
the beautiful residence known as the Waterman 
Smith place. 



] 




PATRICK HARRINGTON. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF' NUTFIELD. 



343 




PATRICK HARRI^^GTONS RESIDENCE, MANCHESTER. 







HARRINdTCjN liUII.UING, MANCHESTER. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



345 



JOHN F. KERVVIN, son of Dennis and Mary Chester. He is a member of the Eiks and of the 

Kerwin, was born in Lowell, Mass., in 1850, Knights of Columbus, 
and when six years of age removed with his 

parents to Manchester. He was educated in the 

CARL W. ANDERSON was l)orn in Ouincy, 
Mass., July 19, 1859. His father, Charles J. 
Anderson, who was a native of Sweden, came to 
A this country when quite young. Coming to Man- 

chester with his parents in 1867, Mr. Anderson 
has lived here ever since. He was educated in 
the public schools, and then learned the jewelry 
business. In 1888 he bought the establishment of 
C. A. Moore, at 894 Elm street, which he has 
since conducted and developed, building up a fine 
trade in diamonds and jewelry. March 13, 1884, 
Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Minnie A., 
daughter of Capt. David Wadsworth (see p. 202). 
Their son, David W., was born Aug. 13, 1887. 



'/^ 




JOHN F. KERWIN. 

public schools of this city and at Boston College, 
and became an equal partner in his father's tallow 
rendering and wholesale grocery business. This 
relation continued until 1892, when the business 
was sold, and Mr. Kerwin entered the service of 
the Hill Spaulding Harness Company as a book- 
keeper, in which company he was a stockholder. 
After a year in this capacity, he purchased the 

retail harness business of the company, which he Mr. Anderson is active in fraternity and social 
still conducts at the old Hill Si)aulding Company's organizations, being a member of the Red Men, 
stand on West Central street. Mr. Kerwin was the Masonic order. Knights Templar, and of the 
married in 1870 to Miss Julia Kerwin of Man- Derryfield and Calumet clubs. 




CARL \V. ANDERSON. 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



THE evolution of the bank, from its primary 
use as a place of safe deposit for treasure, 
plate or jewels, to its present position as the 
medium of nearly all the business of the world, 
would be an interesting study. Promissory notes 
seem to be as ancient as history. However, as 
the clay tablets of the ancient world are not 
likely to be redeemed in our day, let us come 
to more modern times. Bills for circulation on 
the security of real and personal estate and on 
imperishable merchandise were issued in Massa- 
chusetts in 1686, and although the enterprise 
encountered the opposition of the governor and 
council, it continued for about fifty years, paper 
to the amount of /^i 10,000 being issued. One 
hundred years later, in 1 7S4, there were only 
three state banks m the country: the Bank of 
Massachusetts, the Bank of New York, and the 
Bank of North America at Philadelphia. In 
less than another century, in 1861, there were 
1 60 1 state banks, with an aggregate capital of 
$429,000,000. The earliest attempt at paper 
money in New Hampshire appears to have been 
somewhere about or prior to 1733. This was a 
private enterprise and must not be mistaken for 
the state issue of bills of credit, which began in 
1 709. The circulation of this paper money was 
prohibited in Massachusetts. Money transactions 
of the province were few and far between, and 
trade was effected largely by barter. People of 
the territory known as Nutfield, in need of 
financial aid, resorted to Amherst, Nashua, or 
Portsmouth in the early part of the present 
century. The experience of the country with 
state banks was far from satisfactory. The great 
number above quoted issued more than ten 
thousand different kinds of bills, and there was 



seldom a bank whose bills were received at par 
beyond the state boundary. 

The first bank chartered in this immediate 
vicinity was the Hillsborough bank of Amherst, 
in 1806. It was authorized to issue bills to 
double the amount of its capital, a privilege 
which its promoters did not fail to avail them- 
selves of. Three years later it went to the 
wall, causing much distress in its wreck. The 
national banks of today, issuing bills to the 
amount of ninety per cent of their capital, with 
government bonds as security for the redemp- 
tion of all their promises, are as nearly safe 
as any device of human wisdom can be, and 
no one in Manchester or elsewhere has ever 
lost a dollar by the failure of any national 
bank to redeem its issue. The owners of bank 
stock may gain or lose, according as the busi- 
ness is conducted, and it is to the credit of the 
banks of discount in Manchester that, with a single 
exception, they have been sources of reasonably 
profitable investment. It should not be for- 
gotten, however, that the best system in the 
world cannot prevent the more or less regular 
recurrence of failure and disaster attendant upon 
undue expansion of credit. Thus, in 1S09, 1837, 
1857, 1873 and 1891 began periods of depression, 
each extending over several years and causing 
many failures. 

The expansion of banking business in Man- 
chester has been gradual and safe. The sum 
returned in 1884 by the five banks under the 
head of loans and discounts at a given date 
was $1,247,178.64. Ten years later this was in- 
creased by $728,038.68, and the increase would 
have been still greater if taken at intermediate 
periods in the decade just past. The savings 



346 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



347 



banks, beginning with small deposits, have in- 
creased, as will be seen, to more than sixteen 
million dollars. 

Before the establishment of any bank in 
Manchester the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com- 
pany received money on deposit from its 
operatives and other employes, for which it is 
to be presumed profitable investment was found 
as an addition to the quick capital in use. 
This practice, however, was discontinued after 
a few years. 



Frederick C. Dow, Rosecrans W. Pillsbury, 
Charles T. Means, and W. Byron Stearns, directors. 



THE MANCHESTER BANK was char- 
tered in December, 1844. It held its an- 
nual meeting in July, 1845, and organized as 
follows ; James U. Parker, president ; Nathan 
Parker, cashier ; James U. Parker, Samuel D. 
Bell, David A. Bunton, Hiram Brown, Jona- 
than T. P. Hunt, William C. Clarke and Isaac 
Riddle, directors. The bank was located in 
Patten's building, up one llight, on the left of 
the entrance. It began business Sept. 2, 1845, 
with a capital of $50,000, which was increased 
at various times until it reached $150,000. In 
1856, upon the burning of Patten's building, the 
bank, after a temporary sojourn in Merchants 
Exchange, was moved to the present location of 
the Manchester National bank, on the corner of 
Elm and Market streets. It did business for 
twenty-one years, until 1866, when it made distri- 
bution of its earned surplus to stockholders, 
amounting to one hundred and forty dollars a 
share. In 1865 the Manchester National bank 
was organized by choice of the following officers: 
Nathan Parker, president; Charles E. Balch, cash- 
ier; Nathan Parker, Benjamin F. Martin, Phine- 
has Adams, Oilman H. Kimball, John H. May~ 
nard, David A. Bunton, and Horace P. Watts, 
directors. In 1874 Aretas Blood was chosen 
director in place of Oilman H. Kimball, deceased. 
With the death of Nathan Parker, and of John H. 
Maynard May 7, 1894, all of the members of the 
original official board had passed away. At the 
present time the organization is as follows : Wal- 
ter M. Parker, president; W. Byron Stearns, 
cashier ; Frank E. Putney, assistant cashier ; N. 
S. Clark, William J. Hoyt, Walter M. Parker, 



T^HE MANCHESTER SAVINGS BANK 
1 was chartered June 8, 1846. It organized 
with Samuel D. Bell, president; Nathan Parker, 
treasurer, and Daniel Clark, Herman Foster, Na- 
hum Baldwin, Oeorge Porter, David Oillis, Wil- 
liam P. Newell and Hiram Brown, trustees. On 
the resignation of Mr. Bell, Hiram Brown was 
chosen to succeed him, and was followed in 1848 
by William P. Newell, who held the position until 
his death, in 1882, and was succeeded by Daniel 
Clark, who died in 1891, when Charles D. Mc- 
Duffie was made president. \"acancies in the 
board of trustees have been filled by Oeorge W. 
Pinkerton, Oliver W. Bayley, William C. Clarke, 
J. T. P. Hunt, Josiah Crosby, David A. Bunton, 
Benjamin F. Martin, Charles E. Balch and 
Charles Wells, all of whom have passed away. 
The organization in 1895 is: Charles D. Mc- 
Duffie, president; Walter M. Parker, treasurer; 
Charles F. Warren, Stephen N. Bourne, Hiram 
Hill, Isaac W. Smith, Frederick C. Dow, John C. 
Ray, Walter M. Parker, W. Byron Stearns, trus- 
tees; Oeorge H. Holbrook and Mitchell Ward, 
tellers. Soon after the organization of this bank 
in 1852, we are told in the City Directory of that 
year that it had $30,000 deposits. According to 
the commissioner's report of 1894 it had $7,229,- 
449.78. 



THE AMOSKEAO BANK was incorporated 
June 24, 1848, and began business in October 
following in the second story of Union building, 
with the entrance on Market street. Its capital of 
$100,000 was subsequently doubled, and the organ- 
ization was as follows : Richard H. Ayer, president; 
Moody Currier, cashier; Richard H. Ayer, Samuel 
D. Bell, Mace Moulton, Stephen D. Oreen, John 
S. Kidder, Stephen Manahan and Edson Hill, 
directors. Mr. Ayer died in 1853, and Walter 
French was chosen president, which post he held 
but a few months, when he lost his life in a rail- 
road accident at Norwalk, Conn., and was suc- 
ceeded by John S. Kidder, who retained the office 



348 



WIL LET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



until 1868, when the bank closed its affairs and 
made distribution of its capital and surplus to 
stockholders. Among those who were chosen 
directors from time to time to fill vacancies were 
Robert Read, Isaac C. Flanders, Ezekiel A. Straw, 
Herman Foster, Reuben D. Moore, Amos G. 
Gale, James M. Berry, Adam Chandler, Henry 
Putney, Edson Hill, Daniel F. Straw, Lucien B. 
Clough, and George Byron Chandler. Of the 
score or more of gentlemen mentioned above, 
prominent in business affairs, only four remain at 
the time of the present writing. 



T^HE AMOSKEAG NATIONAL BANK 
•* commenced business in 1864, with a capital 
of $100,000, which was increased the next year to 
$200,000. It was organized as follows: Moody 
Currier, president ; George Byron Chandler, cash- 
ier; Moody Currier, John S. Kidder, Stephen D. 
Green, Edson Hill, Henry Putney, Adam Chand- 
ler, Daniel Clark, Darwin J. Daniels, and Horace 
Johnson, directors. In June, 1870, the rooms in 
Union building were exchanged for the present 
commodious quarters ' in Merchants Exchange. 
Otis Barton, John S. Elliot, Reed P. Silver, Henry 
Chandler, Herman Foster, David B. Varney and 
John B. Varick have at various times been chosen 
as directors in place of others removed by death. 
Its official board in 1895 is as follows; George B. 
Chandler, president ; John M. Chandler, cashier ; 
George B. Chandler, Henry Chandler, Edward M. 
Slayton, John B. Varick, Herman F. Straw, David 
B. Varney, Gustavus A. Olzendam, Lewis H. 
Josselyn, directors. 



T^HE AMOSKEAG SAVINGS BANK held 
A its first meeting June 23, 1852, and chose 
Walter French jiresident. Moody Currier treas- 
urer, and Isaac C. Flanders, William Richardson, 
Frederick Smyth, Samuel H. Ayer, Jacob G. 
Cilley, John S. Kidder, Timothv W. Little, and 
Stephen Manahan, trustees. On the death of 
Mr. French, Mace Moulton was chosen president, 
and in a few years Messrs. Ayer, Smyth, Flanders, 
and Kidder resigned, to be succeeded by Oliver 
W. Bayley, Joseph Knowlton, Stephen D. Green, 



Stevens James, and Warren L. Lane. There were 
frequent changes resulting from deaths and re- 
movals from town, and in 1875 Moody Currier 
was president, treasurer, and a member of the 
board of trustees, with Stephen D. Green, Jacob 
F. James, Henry C. Merrill, Joseph E. Bennett, 
Lucien B. Clough, James A. Weston, and George 
W. Riddle. At the present time Messrs. Currier 
and Bennett are the surviving trustees. Otis Bar- 
ton, Henry Chandler, Allen N. Clapp, Gordon 
Woodbury, Albert O. Brown, and Roger G. Sulli- 
van take the places of the above named deceased. 
Moody Currier resigned his office as treasurer, 
and Henry Chandler was chosen to succeed him. 
By the commissioner's report of 1894 the amount 
of deposits was $4,332,354.45, and the guaranty 
fund $250,000. 



T^HE PEOPLE'S SAVINGS BANK began 
A business October ;8, 1874, with Person C. 
Cheney president, George B. Chandler treasurer 
and member of the board of trustees, with Elijah 
M. Topliff, Atherton W. Quint, Henry M. Put- 
ney, Moody Currier, Charles H. Bartlett, Abra- 
ham P. Olzendam, Edson Hill, and George W. 
Riddle. Messrs. Quint, Hill, and Riddle having 
deceased, John B. Varick, George F. Elliott, and 
Joseph L. Stevens were chosen to succeed them. 
In 1894 the amount of deposits was $770,618.89, 
and the guaranty fund $100,000. Both savings 
banks occupy rooms with the Amoskeag National 
bank. 



THE CITY BANK was organized July 2, 
1853, with the folloiving board of officers; 
Isaac C. Flanders, president ; Edward W. Har- 
rington, cashier; Isaac C. Flanders, Samuel W. 
Parsons, Joseph Kidder, William C. Clarke, 
Oliver Bayley, William H. Hill, and Andrew G. 
Tucker, directors. Its capital was $100,000, in- 
creased the following year to $150,000. For a few 
months the bank occupied rooms on the south 
corner of Elm and Hanover streets, and then 
moved to the postoffice building, now the store 
of Frank W. Fitts, Nos. 9 and 13 Hanover street. 
In 1870 it was removed to its present location, in 



WlLLET'S BOOK OF KUTFIELD. 



349 



Merchants Exchange, coiner of Elm and Man- 
chester streets, and the name changed to Mer- 
chants' Bank. It was reorganized as a national 
bank in 1865, with Clinton W. Stanley president, 
and Daniel W. Lane assistant cashier. At the 
present time only one of the original directors, 
Joseph Kidder, is living. James A. Weston was 
chosen president to succeed Clinton W. Stanley, 
who resigned that office in 1879. Mr. Weston 
died in 1895, and the present organization is as 
follows: Nathan P. Hunt, president ; Arthur M. 
Heard, cashier ; Nathan P. Hunt, John C. French, 
Bushrod W. Hill, John M. Parker, Charles H. 
Bartlett, Andrew Bunton, William N. Johnson, 
Walter G. Africa, Daniel W. Lane, and James H. 
Weston, directors. 



T^HE CrrV SAVINGS BANK was organized 
1 for business in August, 1859, as follows: 
Joseph Kidder, president ; Edward W. Harring- 
ton, treasurer ; Samuel W. Parsons, James Hersey, 
John D. Bean, R. N. Batchelder, James S. Cheney, 
Andrew G. Tucker, J. C. Ricker, Bradbury P. 
Cilley, James S. Cogswell, and John F. Duncklee, 
trustees. In 1874 Lewis W. Clark, John C. 
Young, William H. Boyd, William B. Johnson, 
and Daniel W. Lane had at various times been 
members of the board of trustees in place of 
others removed from town or deceased, and in 
1879, in consequence of some unfortunate invest- 
ments, the bank wound up its afifairs and settled 
with depositors. 



THE GUARANTY SAVINGS BANK was 
organized in 1879 by choice of John M. 
Parker, president, and James A. Weston, treasurer; 
Nathan P. Hunt, Alonzo Elliott, Bushrod W. 
Hill, J. M. Parker, David A. Parker, John P. 
Moore, James A. Weston, H. K. Slayton, and 
John Kennard, trustees. A guaranty fund of 
$50,000 was subscribed and paid in for the security 
of depositors, which was later increased to $100,- 
000. Its place of business was with the City 
National l)ank, and its present organization is as 
follows: John M. Parker, president; Nathan P. 
Hunt, treasurer; Edwin H. Carpenter, teller; 



John M. Parker, Nathan P. Hunt, Kendrick Ken- 
dall, Hiram K. Slayton, Alonzo Elliott, John C. 
French, John Kennard, Bushrod W. Hill, and 
James H. Weston, trustees. Messrs. Parker, 
Hunt, and French constitute the executive com- 
mittee. The amount of deposits, according to the 
commissioner's report of 1894, was $851,444.02. 



THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK was in- 
corporated under the name of the Merrimack 
River Bank, July 14, 1855. The charter was 
granted for the term of twenty years from July 
15, and was accepted August i by the grantees. 
The first meeting took place at the office of Fred- 
erick Smyth, No. 4 Smyth's block. The capital 
stock was fixed at $150,000, which was all taken 
and paid in by November 7 following. It or- 
ganized by choice of William G. Means, president ; 
Frederick Smyth, cashier; W^illiam G. Means, 
W^illiam P. Newell, William Whittle, Waterman 
Smith, John H. Moore, B. F. Martin, and David 
Cross, directors. In November, 1856, Mr. Whittle 
resigned, and Phinehas Adams succeeded him, and 
in 1859 Joseph B. Clark was made director. 
Mr. Means resigned as president and was suc- 
ceeded by Waterman Smith, who held the office 
until 1884, when he resigned and Frederick Smyth 
was chosen. Meantime various changes had 
taken place in the directorate. In i860 Messrs. 
Martin, Moore, Newell, and Adams resigned. 
Aretas Blood, William W. Brown, Richard N. 
Batchelder and Natt Head were chosen. On 
March 22, 1865, the stockholders voted to reor- 
ganize under United States laws, the directors re- 
maining unchanged until 1868, when Thomas 
Wheat took the place of Aretas Blood. William 
W. Brown died in 1875 and was succeeded by 
Francis B. Eaton. In 1884 the organization was 
as follows: Frederick Smyth, president; David 
Cross, vice president ; Charles F. Morrill, cashier ; 
David Cross, Joseph B. Clark, Thomas Wheat, 
Frederick Smyth, Francis B. Eaton, Frank Dowst, 
and Joseph F. Kennard, directors. Since that 
time Messrs. Clark, Kennard, and Wheat have 
been removed by death. Charles F. Morrill re- 
signed his position as cashier, and the official board 
at present is as follows: Frederick Smyth, presi- 



350 



WILLET'S BOOK OP NUTFIELD. 



dent; David Cross, vice president; Francis B. 
Eaton, Freeman Higgins, William F. Head, 
Josiah G. Dearborn, George W. Dodge, and John 
C. Ray, directors. This bank has been located 
since its incorporation, at the south corner of Elm 
and Water streets, in Smyth's block, at first on the 
second floor and since occupying the entire depth 
of one store on the first floor. 



T^HE MERRIMACK RIVER SAVINGS 
■I BANK was incorporated in June, 1S58, 
under the name of the Manchester Five Cent 
Savings Institution. In 1865 a change of name 
was authorized by act of legislature. The first 
meeting for organization was held July 14, 1S58, 
and the following officers were chosen : Waterman 
Smith, president; E. W. Harrington and George 
Porter, vice presidents ; Frederick Smyth, treas- 
urer and clerk ; Benjamin F. Martin, Frederick 
Smyth, John B. Clarke, John L. Kelly, James M. 
Varnum, Thomas Wheat, George Thompson, 
Joseph B. Clark, Isaac W. Smith, William B. 
Webster, Frank A. Brown, Peter S. Brown, 
Josiah S. Shannon, Alonzo Smith, Warren Page, 
Albe C. Heath, E. S. Peabody, and Joseph A. 
Haines, trustees. At the present writing (August, 
1895) four only of the above named gentlemen 
are living — Frederick Smyth, Isaac W. Smith, 
James M. Varnum, and Josiah S. Shannon. In 
1885 Waterman Smith resigned the office of pres- 
ident, and Frederick Smyth was chosen in his 
place, with Francis B. Eaton and Joseph B. Clark 
vice presidents, and Charles F. Morrill, treasurer 
and clerk. Other gentlemen who have acted as 
trustees and been removed by death are William 
W. Brown, George P. Whitman, Natt Head, E. 
M. Tubbs, Joseph Kennard, John Brugger and M. 
V. B. Edgerly. Messrs. William S. Perry and 
Stephen Palmer resigned before their deaths. 
Charles F. Morrill resigned his connection with 
the bank in 1892, and on the death of Joseph B. 
Clark, David Cross was chosen as a vice president. 
William Crane of Candia was made a trustee in 
1874 and resigned in 1894; Frank Dowst, chosen 
in 1880 and resigned in 1892, and Henry C. San- 
derson, chosen in 1877 and resigned in 1895. By 
a recent vote of members of the corporation, the 



number of trustees has been reduced from seven- 
teen to fifteen, and the present organization is as 
follows : Frederick Smyth, president and treas- 
urer ; David Cross and Francis B. Eaton, vice 
presidents and members of the board of trustees, 
with Charles H. Bartlett, William F. Head, 
George W. Dodge, J. Q. A. Eager, Freeman Hig- 
gins, John Porter, James F. Baldwin, Horatio 
Fradd, Josiah G. Dearborn, Arthur H. Hale, 
Abraham F. Emerson, John C. Ray, and Leonard 
G. Smyth. Arthur H. Hale, assistant treasurer; 
A. F. Emerson, teller. The amount of deposits, 
bv the report of 1894, was $2,653,601.04, and the 
guaranty fund $ i 70,000. 



T^HE SECOND NATIONAL BANK began 
A business in 1877, in rooms adjoining the city 
treasurer's office in citv hall. The capital stock 
paid in was $100,000, and the organization was as 
follows: Aretas Blood, president; Josiah Carpen- 
ter, cashier ; Aretas Blood, Josiah Carpenter, 
Nehemiah S. Bean, Frank P. Carpenter, and John 
Hoyt, directors. The only change has been the 
choice of Frank C. Towle in place of John Hoyt, 
deceased. 



THE MECHANICS SAVINGS BANK, 
granted perpetual charter in 1876, began 
business in 1878, with Aretas Blood, president; 
Josiah Carpenter, treasurer ; Aretas Blood, Josiah 
Carpenter, John Hoyt, N. S. Bean, George W. 
Dodge, Henry E. Burnham, and Frank P. Car- 
penter, directors. In 1SS2 Mr. Blood resigned, 
Henry E. Burnham was chosen president, and 
William J. Hoyt succeeded John Hoyt as trustee. 
George W. Dodge resigned in 1S95 and was suc- 
ceeded by Rufus H. Pike. Mr. Pike died in 1895, 
and the organization at present is as follows: 
Henry E. Burnham, president ; Josiah Carpenter, 
treasurer; Henry E. Burnham, Josiah Carpenter, 
N. S. Bean, Charles T. Means, F. P. Carpenter, 
and Henry W. Parker, trustees. Consequent 
upon the remodelling of the city hall, both banks 
have removed to the Kennard, corner of Elm and 
Mechanic streets. The amount of deposits, b)- 
the last commissioner's report, was $431,864.07, 
and the guaranty fund $18,000. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



351 



THE BA\K OF NEW ENGLAND was 
incorporated in 1887 and organized as fol- 
lows: lames F. Briggs, president, and ^Mon/.o 
Elliott, treasurer, who with Alpheus (iay, Oliver 
B. Green, J. A. V. Smith, Daniel Connor, John 
Gillis, Edward Wagner, A. G. Grenier, Henry 
Gazaille, George S. Holmes, John J. Cilley, 
Henry N. Hall, William N. Johnson, and H. B. 
Burnham constituted the board of directors. It 
is located on the north corner of Elm and Han- 
over streets. The capital stock paid in was $100,- 
000. In 1894 the bank had relintiuislicd its busi- 
ness as a savings institution and was returning 
monev to its depositors as fast as could be done 
without loss from the sale of securities. As a 
bank of loan and discount it still continues its 
business. 



THE NATIONAL BANK OF THE COM- 
MONWEALTH, having been duly au- 
thorized, commenced business February 3, 1892, 
with Joseph C. Moore president and Charles F. 
Morrill, cashier. Fifteen other trentlemen, all of 
good financial standing, with Messrs. Moore and 
Morrill, constituted the board of directors. The 
capital stock was $100,000. New and convenient 
rooms were fitted up at No. 8 18 Elm street, and 
for a short time prosperity seemed assured. The 
directors, however, had little practical knowledge 
of banking, the times were inauspicious, and in 
July, 1893, the bank was in the hands of a receiver. 
The depositors have received a part of their 
money, and it is the opinion of the receiver that 
they will ultimately he made whole without assess- 
insf the stock hulders. 



THE DERRYFIELD SAVINGS BANK, 
with Messrs. Moore aud Morrill as president 
and treasurer, respectively, began business in the 
same rooms, July i, 1892, with a large board of 
trustees and a guaranty fund of $100,000. It 
shared the fate of its room-mate and went into the 
hands of a receiver in little over a year. Several 
dividends have been paid to depositors, and it now 
seems probable that they will meet with no loss, 
although it is doubtful if there be any surplus to 
divide among the subscribers to the guaranty 
fund. 

3S 



A DRUNKARD'S FUNERAL.— The follow- 
ing is a copy of a well preserved poster 
which is now in the possession of the })ublisher of 
this work. The poster was printed about 1846 : 

TO THE PUBLIC and all interested in the cause of 
Temperance. At a meeting of some of the friends of the 
cause of Temperance, at the Temperance House of Stephen 
Chase, the following gentlemen were chosen a Committee to 
make arrangements for the Funeral of Samuel H. Benson, who 
was accidentally found in the woods near this village last 
Wednesday night under the intluence of Delirium Tremens, and 
brought here to die the death of a Drunkard. The young man 
came to Manchester about the time he was 2 1 years of age, 
and we believe a sober man, here contracted the habit of indulg- 
ing in the moderate use of the intoxicating cup, has here spent 
his last cent, has here run the Drunkard's race, and got home 
to a Drunkard's resting place. Under these circumstances, the 
friends of Temperance have thought proper to have a Drunk- 
ard's Funeral, in hopes that this warning from the grave may 
serve to open the eyes of the community, that they may see the 
horrid effects of this blighting curse to our growing village. We 
would, therefore, as the Committee of Arrangements, kindly in- 
vite all of our fellow-citizens, without regard to sex. age or 
occupation, to come to the Drunkard's Funeral. We kindly 
invite the Drunkards and the Drunkard Makers; we kindly 
invite the drunkard's wife and his innocent children ; we kindly 
invite those who encourage the sale of intoxicating drinks by 
letting your buildings for the sale and traffic in it : we finally in- 
vite all to come. 

Edward P. Offutt, i „ 

,,r Tj Committee 

Wm. Havward, 



Joseph C. More, 
Nahum Baldwin, 
D. P. Perkins, 



of 
Arrangements. 



The following are the arrangements: — The services will 
commence at the Temperance House of Stephen Chase, Elm- 
st., No 23, at I o'clock, P. M., F'riday, June 24. 

ist. Prayer will be offered by Rev. Mr. Upham, after which 
the procession will form on Elm-st., in the following order: 

ist. The corpse will be borne to the hearse by the pall 
bearers. 2d. the officers of the Washington T. A. S. 3d. The 
clergymen of the place. 4th. All the Ladies who feel disposed 
to walk. 5th. The members of the W. T. A. S. and all friendly 
to the cause of temperance, and all who feel disposed to join 
in the procession. The hearse with the corpse will stop op])o- 
site Deacon Plummer & Co.'s Rum Cellar, usually known as 
Loafers" Corner, whilst the procession is filling up. 

The procession will then move on as far as the Town 
House where they will come to a halt. The Pall Bearers will 
then remove the corpse to the Town Hall in front of the desk, 
when the procession will move into the Hall and take the side 
pews, the centre pews being reserved for the Ladies of the 
place. Services will then commence with Prayer by the Rev. 
Mr. Sinclair. Rev. Mr. Upham will select and read such por- 
tions of Scripture and Hymns a.s he may think proper for the 



352 



IIVLLET'S BOOK OF NUT-FIELD. 



occ. son. The singing will be under the ilirection of N'r. 
Horr. 

Tiie Rev. Mr. Wallace will then address the asfembly, and 
will be followed by remarks from the Rev. Mr. More. Mr. Sin- 
clair will close at the Hall by Prayer. The bearers will then re- 
move the corjise to the door of the Hall, where all who feel dis- 
posed can view the corjise, and can hand in their names to the 
Secretary of the W. T. A. S. who will be present, if they feel 
disposed to join said Society. The corpse will then be borne 
to the hearse by the Bearers. The procession will then form 
as follows: — ist. The Rum Sellers are respectfully invited to 
fall in to the procession as mourners, and those who encourage 
the sale of into.xicating drinks by letting their buildings for that 
purpose. 2d. The officers of the W. T. A. S. are then invited 
to fall in. 3(1. The Clergymen present. 4th. The Ladies. 5th. 
The members of the Society, including all friendly to the cause 
of Temperance. 6th. The hearse will come to a stand oppo 
site the Comjiany's Tavern, and give all "ho feel disposed an 
opportunity to fall in to the i)rocession All are respectfully 
invited to go to the grave. 



J 



OEL DANIELS, son of Nathan and iMehit- 
abel (Walker) Daniels, was born in Union, 
Me., Dec. lo, 1833. He was one of frve children, 




JOEL DANIELS. 



of eighteen and learned the painter's trade. 
Returning to Maine, he worked one year at Rock- 
land, and in 1855 went to Lawrence, Mass., to 
take charge of the painting at the Atlantic mills. 
He came to Manchester in 1864 and for three 
years had charge of the painting in the Manches- 
ter mills and Print Works. In 1869 he established 
himself in the business of house and sign painting 
in the basement of Smyth's block, removing in 
1878 to his present location. No. 1094 Elm street, 
where he opened a store with a stock of paints, 
oils, paper hangings, etc., this being the first house 
of its kind in the c\t\. He has also continued his 
former business of house and sign painting. Mr. 
Daniels was married in 1856 to Eli/a Roach, 
daughter of Selman Roach of Wilton, Me., and 
four children were born of this union, two of whom 
survive : Harriet E., one of the proprietors of the 
Daniels & Downs Private School of this city, and 
Joel S., a bookkeeper for the E. M. Slayton Com- 
pany. Mrs. Daniels died in November, 1891. 
Mr. Daniels is an attendant at the Lowell-Street 
Universalist church ; a member of the Masonic 
order. Odd Fellows, and Patrons of Husbandry, 
a charter member of the Calumet Club, director 
of the Manchester Art Association, and treasurer 
of the Veteran Firemen's Association, having 
been foreman of the E.xcelsior Hook and Ladder 
Company. He is a Democrat, was president of 
the common council in 1876, and has been a 
member of the school board. 



A 



LFRED TRACY was born in Cornish in 
1833. He came to Manchester from Clare- 



mont in Februarv, 1891, to 
accept a position as fore- 
man of the book binding 
department of the John B. 
Clarke establishment. Here 
he remained until his death, 
which occurred June 23, 
1896. Three years ago he 
was married to Miss Lizzie 
Barker of Manchester, 
being his second marriage. 




ALFRED TRACY. 



and both his parents were natives of that town. He grew continually in 
After studying in the common and high schools the esteem and affection 
of Union, he went to Pawtucket, R. L, at the age of those who were in any way associated with him. 



WlLLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



353 



EDWARD J. BURNHAM, son of John C. 
and AnCTeline H. Burnham, was born in 
Epsom July 6, 1853. His boyhood and youth 
were passed upon his father's farm and in attend- 
ance upon Pembroke and Pittsfield academies and 
Bates College. He entered the office of the 
Dover Press in 1875, and in the spring of 1880 
accepted a position on the Manchester Union, 
where, in one capacity 
and another, he has 
since remained, fur 
s e \^ e r a 1 years past 
having been leading 
editorial writer. He 
has been for four years 
lecturer of the New 
Hampshire State 
Grange, and for eight 
years secretary of the 
Manchester Building 
and Loan Association, 
with which he was 
identified from the 
beginning. He is at 
present a director in 
the Union I'ublishing 
Company, trustee of 
the Elliot Hospital, 
treasurer of the Elec- 
tric Club, and chair- 
man of the exhibition 
committee of the semi- 
centennial celebration 
of Manchester. Mr. 
Burnham is married 
and has four children. 




EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



GEORGE WALDO BROWNE is a native 
of Deerfield, where he lived until he came 
to Manchester in 1881. He was the oldest child of 
John C. and Martha L. Brown, and was born 
Oct. 8, 185 I. His educational advantages were 
those that commonly fall to the lot of farmers' 
sons, but being of a studious nature he lost no 
opj)ortunitv in the cultivation of his books. As 
early as the age of eleven he began to develop the 
literar\' talent he had, no doubt, inherited from his 



mother. During such spare moments as he could 
catch from the busy scenes of farm life he wrote 
his first stories, and at twenty-one be was selling 
his work to New York publishers. But a country 
boy living far from a literary centre necessarily 
finds it a slow and often discouraging road to 
travel to prominence and pecuniary reward in his 
chosen profession. Soon after coming to Man- 
chester he purchased 
the juvenile paper, 
Girls and Bovs of 
New Hampshire, 
which he edited and 
published as a month- 
ly until Jan. i, 1883, 
when he bought the 
list and copyright of 
the American Young 
Folks, of T o p e k a, 
Kan., consolidated the 
two publications, 
adopted the latter 
name, and continued 
its publication as a 
semi-monthly for 
three years, his suc- 
cess largely due to his 
o w n conliibutions. 
Finding that his boys' 
stories and sketches 
were very favorably 
received, and wishing 
to devote all of his 
time to such work, he 
disposed of the Young 
Folks to the Youth's 
Companion and again 
turned his entire at- 
tention to story writing. Under his own name 
and a dozen pen signatures he has contributed 
stories, sketches, descriptive and historical articles 
to all the youth's papers of any importance, until 
he has had nearly fifty serials and a thousand short 
stories published in Golden Days, Argosy, Good 
News. Golden Hours, Young People, and others. 
His nom de ])lumc of " \"ictor St. Clair" has 
become a name which is a guarantee of work not 
inferior to that of the leading writers of juvenile 



354 



WTLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



fiction. Amons: his most successful works in this 
line have been "Captains of Honor," "Sons of 
Steel," " Roughing it on the Range and Ranch," 
" Sent to Siberia." Besides his stories for the 
young folks, he has been particularly successful 
with short stories for older readers, and his novel, 




works he has had over one hundred and fifty 
peems published in Literary life. Current;, Argosy, 
Youth's Companion, Poets of America, etc., and 
contemplates issuing a volume of poems at an 
early day. As a public speaker Mr. Browne has 
won decided succes'^, his addresses being scholarly 
efforts. He is an active member of Amoskeag 
Grange, P. of H., was its lecturer for two years 
and is now serving his second term as Master. He 
is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, of the Western Authors and Artists 
Association, and the Manchester Historic Asso- 
ciation, being corresponding secretary of the last 
named society. He married in 1891 Miss Nellie 
May Barber, oldest daughter of Orland D. and 
Mary F. (Fessenden) Barber of Townsend, Mass., 
who is a popular public reader and efficient assist- 
ant to him in his work. They have one child, 
a son, Norman Stanlev Browne. 



GEORGE WALDO BROWNE. 

" A Daughter of Maryland," published by Sibley 
& Son, New York, has had a wide sale. The 
New York Herald, in reviewing this book, said 
that it was "one of the most fascinating stories 
ever written by an American author." 

Historical work is Mr. Browne's choice, and 
in equipping himself for future enterprises in his 
favorite field he has carefully studied the history of 
his native state and has in preparation, with other 
prospective works, " Indian Legends and Folklore 
of the land of the Granite Hills." He was asso- 
ciated with the late J. Bailey Moore in the writing 
and publishing of the " History of Candia." He 
compiled and published for ex-Gov. Frederick 
Smyth " Candia's Soldiers' Monument," and has 
written for this volume " Tyng Township Grant," 
" Old Church at the Centre," " Parks and Com- 
mons," " Roads and Streets." Besides his prose 



TOHN DOE FIFE, son of Joel and Lois 
<j (Morgan) Fife, was born at Pembroke, Aug. 
I, 1825, and obtained his education in the Pem- 
broke academy 



Having studied civil engineering 




X. 






i^^-,: 




JOHN DOE FIFE. 

in Boston with James Hayward, professor of 
mathematics at Harvard college, he entered in 
1847 upon the survey and construction of the 
Ogdensburg railroad, in which he was engaged for 
three years. In 1851 he was division engineer of 
the New York Central railroad, and three years 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



355 



later he began the survey of the Pennsylvania 
Central railroad. In 1879 he surveyed the west- 
ern division of the Northern Pacific railroad, from 
Portland, Oregon, to Puget sound. Coming to 
Manchester in 1882. he established, in association 
with his daughter, a piano business, which since 
July I, 18S5, has been most successfully conducted 
by her under the firm name of M. D. Fife & Co. 
Since his retirement from business he has resided 
at Penacook, on the farm where Mrs. Fife was 
born. Mr. Fife is connected with the Odd 
Fellows, the Knights Templar and the Pilgrim 
Fathers. 



MARV DOROTHY FIFE, daughter of John 
Doe and Mary ("Fowler) Fife, was born 
at Fisherville, April i, 1854, and was educated in 



/ *r 




most proficient teachers in New England. Her 
studies in this department of musical art were 
begun with Mrs. Adelle Hosmer and with her 
aunt, Mrs. L. M. Dunn, who long enjoyed a repu- 
tation as one of the most noted teachers of voice 
culture in Chicago. Miss Fife also studied with 
Natalie Seeboeck and with Madame Louisa Cap- 
piani, and for several years was successfully en- 
Sfaoed in teachinsf music m the West, where she 
appeared in many concerts. Returning to New 
Hampshire in 1880, her services as teacher and as 
accompanist at concerts were in constant demand, 
and her musical fame was steadily increasing. 
She finally accepted a responsible position with a 
piano and organ house at Laconia, where she re- 
mained until 1885, when she came to Manchester 
and with her father engaged in the music business. 
Under her skilful management it has grown to be 
the largest in the state, with branches in Derry, 
Tilton, Franklin, Concord, Henniker, Hillsboro, 
and Newport, and it is the only music house con- 
ducted by a woman. The secret of her success 
Mesin her highly developed musical sense and her 
intimate acquaintance with the comparative merits 
of the various makes of pianos and organs. As 
she is too conscientious to subordinate business 
considerations to art, she has been a most impor- 
tant factor in the elevation of the musical taste of 
the community, and it was she who first originated 
the movement out of which grew the symphony 
concerts in Manchester and the resulting organiz- 
ation of the Philharmonic society. 



MARY DOROTHY FIFE. 



the public schools and at Penacook academ\'. 
She early gave evidence of possessing those rare 
musical talents which have distinguished her ca- 
reer and which have enabled her to contribute so 
much toward the promotion of musical culture 
and progress in New Hampshire. Having studied 
piano and organ with John Jackman, J. H. Morey, 
and several celebrated German musicians in the 
west. Miss Fife later made a thorough study of 
the Deppe method with Warren A. Locke, and 
was the first teacher of that method in Manches- 
ter. She has devoted years to voice culture, and 
by her talents and industry has become one of the 



GEORGE ISAAC McALLISTER was born 
in Londonderry Dec. 11, 1853, his parents 
being Jonathan and Caroline (Choate) McAllister. 
His father, a successful farmer and a prominent 
citizen, resides in Londonderry, where he was born 
March 12, 181 7. His mother was born in Derry 
April 8, 1823, and was a daughter of James Choate. 
He graduated from Kimball Union Academv at 
Meriden in 1873, from the Chandler Scientific 
Department of Dartmouth College in 1877, 
studied law with Cross cS: Burnham and Hon 
David Cross, was admitted to the bar in March, 
1881, and has since practised law in Manchester 
where he resides. He was associated with Hon 



356 



WrLLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



Henry E. Burnham as a partner in the practice of 
the law from April i, 1881, to Jan. i, 1884, and 
has been the candidate of the Democratic party 
for county solicitor. From Nov. i, 1885, to Dec. 
I, 1889, he held the office of deputy collector of 
internal revenue under Collector Calvin Paec. 




GEORGE I. MCALLISTER. 



Granite State Club, and attends the First Baptist 
church. He married Mattie M., daughter of Hon. 
John M. and Susan E. Hayes, on Dec. 22, 1886. 
They have two bright children: Bertha Hayes, 
born Sept. 27, 1887, and Harold Cleveland, born 
March 28, 1893. Mr. McAllister is a public 
spirited citizen, a good lawyer, and is held in high 
esteem by his clients and friends. He is an ex- 
cellent speaker, and has been called upon to de- 
liver orations upon numerous public occasions. 



WILLIAM FRENCH, son of Ebcnezer and 
Rhoda (Coburn) French, was born in Bed- 
ford in 1S07, and was educated in the common 
schools of that town and at the Antrim and Pem- 
broke academies. He entered mercantile life and 
served as clerk in various places, coming to Man- 




Mr. McAllister has taken a great interest in Free 
Masonry. Since he was made a Mason, in 1881, 
he has received the thirty-second degree of the 
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in E. A. Ray- 
mond Consistory at Nashua, has been Worshijiful 
Master of Washington Lodge, A. F. and A. M., 
and Eminent Commander of Trinity Comman- 
dery. Knights Templar, of Manchester, is the 
Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of 

Free and Accepted Masons, and ihe Grand Cap- Chester in 1840 and going into business for him- 
tain General of the Grand Commandery of self. In the same year he married Isabella Wal- 
Knights Templar of the state of New Hampshire, lace, by whom he had two children, Josephine W. 
He is also a member of Ridgely Lodge of Odd and Ella W., both deceased. Mr. French was a 
Fellows, of Security Lodge, Ancient Order of man of strict probity and was highly honored in 
United Workmen, of the Board of Trade, of the the community. His death occurred in 1852. 



WILLIAM I KLNCH. 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



557 



DR. LUTHER PxATTEE, son of Asa Pattee, learned of New Hampshire physicians. An inde- 

was born in Warner Dec. i, 183 1, and spent fatigable student, not only in his chosen work, but 

his childhood on the old homestead which has upon other subjects requiring: profound thought, 

been the home of the family for four generations, his researches along independent lines of his own, 

After attending the district school he began the especially in microscopy, bore fruit in discoveries 

study of medicine with Dr. Leonard Eaton of which were practically identical with some of the 

Warner, with whom he remained for two or three most important discoveries made by the great 

years, attending meanwhile medical lectures at German scientists. His collection of instruments 



was graduated 
Beginning 



and his e(]uipment 
for microscopic in- 
vestigation were the 
most complete and 
valuable in the state. 
Dr. Pattee was very 
quiet and unostenta- 
tious in his tastes 
and manner, and was 
averse to notoriety 
of any kind. He 
seldom spoke of his 
researches or of the 
many difficult and 
successful surgical 
cases which he 
treated, but the re- 
ports of the New 
Hampshire Medical 
Society, of which he 
was a member, show 
his remarkable skill, 
especially in ovarian 
surgery. He was 
always ready in any 
e m e r g e n c y a n d 
brought with him 
that knowledge and 
profound interest in 
the case, which won 

came to Manchester and opened an office on Elm confidence in his ability and assured success. Dr. 
street with Dr. Elliot. Continuing here in active Pattee was married in 1855 to Miss Sarah Rich- 
practice until 1870, he went in that year to Boston, ardson of Candia, who survives him. 
and for five years was engaged in professional work 
with his brother, Asa P., who was also a physician, 

keeping up meanwhile much of his Manchester l\ A RS. CLARA L. (BENNETT) DOWNS, the 
practice. He returned to this city in 1875 and ''* youngest child of Rhodolphus D. and Mary 
remained in active practice here until ill health (Woodward) Bennett, was born in Milford. Her 
obliged him to relinquish it. His death occurred father was one of the substantial citizens of that 
Nov. 27, 1895. Dr. Pattee was one of the most town and a direct descendant of Captain Job Shat- 



Pittsfield and Wood- 
stock, \"t. He also 
studied with Dr. Gil- 
man Kimball of Low- 
ell, Mass., and then 
after a course of lec- 
tures in the medical 
department of Har- 
vard University he 
entered the medical 
school at W^oodstock 
and 

in 1853. 
practice with Dr. 
Kimball at Lowell, 
he remained with 
him a few months 
and then went to 
Candia, where he 
soon built up an ex- 
tensive practice and 
won the confidence 
of his patrons by his 
remarkable skill in 
the treatment of dis- 
ease. Dr. Pattee re- 
moved to Wolfeboro 
in 1857 and practised 
there successfully un- 
til 1863, when he 




DR. LUTHER PATTEE. 



3S8 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



tuck of Revolutionary fame. After graduating the kind tried by women in New England, 

with honors from the Milford high school speedily proved to be a success. The school has 

she was for a time engaged in teaching, in flourished under their skilful management and the 

which she achieved a creditable measure of value of its work has been demonstrated in the 

success. She discovered, however, that a broader character of its pupils. Mrs. Downs was married 

life was more to her liking, and her love for to Captain Frank L. Downs Oct. 20, 1885. 




HARRIET ELIZA DANIELS, daughter of 
Joel and Eliza (Roach) Daniels, is a native 
of Lawrence, Mass., but has been a resident of 
this city since her early childhood. Her education 
was received in the public schools of Manchester, 
and after graduatmg from the High school, in 
which she took high rank, she entered her father's 
store as bookkeeper. Here she laid the founda- 
tions for the eminent business success which she 
has since attained. During President Cleveland's 
first administrati(jn Miss Daniels was monev order 



MRS. CLARA LOUISE (BENNETT) DOWNS. 

practical business affairs, together with her pro- 
ficiencv in mathematics, induced her to turn her 
attention to mercantile life. Coming to Man- 
chester, she was employed successively by many 
leading firms as accountant and it was not long 
ere she became a recognized expert in that line, 
her services being in constant demand. By pri- 
vate study and with the aid of competent instruct- 
ors, she sought every means to perfect herself 
in her profession, and her tireless industry has 
reaped its reward. Mrs. Downs is one of the 
original members of the National Organization 

of Accountants which was founded at Detroit and clerk in the Manchester postoffice under Post- 
continues to exert a strong influence in that body master Dearborn, making hosts of friends and 
of experts. In April, 1892, in association with gaining an experience that afterwards proved 
Miss Harriet E. Daniels, she establishad the Dan- most valuable to her. In her leisure hours she 
iels & Downs commercial school for bookkeeping, mastered thoroughly the difficulties of shorthand, 
shorthand, etc., and the experiment, the first of and upon leaving the government service she 




HARRIET E. DANIELS. 



WILLErS BOOK OF NUTFIELD. 



361 



business for himself, and his rise has been rapid 
and his success well deserved. During the second 
year of his business he added the half-tone and 
photo-engraving processes, and now furnishes cuts 
for the leading periodicals of this city as well as 




WALTER H. SHILVOCK. 

many others of the state, and also does finer half- 
tone work for books and magazines. For several 
years he has held the position of secretary of the 
Manchester Art Association, where he has been 
an earnest worker. Possessing a love for art in 
nature he has taken a great interest in water-color 
painting and has always been well represented at 
the exhibitions of the association. 



ALLAN EVANS HERRICK was born in 
Brooklyn, N. V., March i, 1854. the eldest 
son of Henry Walker and Clara (Parkinson) 
Herrick (see page 310). His paternal ancestors 
date back to the eleventh century, from Eric, 
a Danish kmg whose descendants gradually 
changed the spelling of the name until it finally 
appeared in the family registers as " Herrick," 
although it has been facetiously claimed that the 
English people simply added the "h" sound to 
Eric. On the mother's side Mr. Herrick is 
descended from a sturdy Scotch race, his great- 
grandfather being " Master Robert Parkinson," 
a celebrated dominie of Revolutionary time, who 
at one time served as a (juartcrmastcr in Gen. 
Arnold's regiment. Mr. Herrick's mother inher- 



received his first education in the public schools 
of Brooklyn, removing with his parents, about 
1864, to Manchester, where he passed through 
the schools and completed a high school course, 
afterward attending the Hickox School of Short- 
hand and Typewriting in Boston. The natural 
inclination of Mr. Herrick led him toward his 
father's calling, and having passed some time 
under his instruction he connected himself with 
Kilburn & Cross of Boston, as wood engraver, 
serving in the same capacity with John Andrew 
& Son, and Russell & Richardson of the same 
city. For four years and a half he was engaged 
as draughtsman with the Manchester Print Works. 
Mr. Herrick's ability as a stenographer and teacher 
of shorthand led the Hammond Typewriter Com- 
pany to select him as their agent in New Hamp- 
shire. From this position Mr. Herrick was called 
to the position of clerk in the citv auditor's office, 
where for over three years he rendered efficient 
service. Upon the establishment of the street 
and park commission he was tendered and 
accepted the position of chief clerk. In addition 
to the work above described, Mr. Herrick has 
enjoyed an excellent reputation as a successful 
teacher of shorthand and t3^pewriting, has reported 
conventions for religious papers, and was one of 




ALLAN E. HERRICK. 



the founders and the first president of the Man- 
chester Shorthand Club. He has been identified 
ited her grandfather's ambition for education, and with the religious work of the First Congrega- 
became a teacher early in life. She was born at tioaa! church. April 7, 1887, he married Augusta 
New Boston, N. H., Sept. 27, 1824. Mr. Herrick C. Smith of Manchester, 






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WILLIAM M. BUTTERFIELD. 



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ILLIAM M BUTTERFIELD, a na.ive of Maine, came .0 Manchester in .SS., and established an architect's office .^nch 
now r'nks second to none in he state, and is excelled by few in New England. Profess.onally he has been engaged on 
several oT r ^esrb.itdings .n the s,a,e, inc.ndin. The Kennard, new Hi«h School, cnnty b^^^-X;! J" T' P,rrft ,d is 

^:::^::i::^^-:-::^^:'::^:^:::^^^^ :=:ofr.-si«^KL Ha..hire. 




H. ;. LAWSON. 



LJ J. LAWSON was born in Norway April i, 1856, and was educated hi the schools of Sarpsbnrg. He afterward studied 
navigation at the governmeDt school, Frederikshald, and qualified as mate in 1876, having in the meantime learned the 
coppeismiih's trade. For sixteen years he followed the sea as mate and as commander, and came to this country in 1SS6 to work 
at his trade. In 1S92 he located in Manchester, where he has established one of the most completely equipped metal-working 
establishments in New England. 




CAVANAUGH BROTHERS. 
Tluimas F. Cavaiiaiigh. Michael A. Cavanaiigh. James V. (^avanaugh. 




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WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD 



359 



opened a stenographic and typewriting ofifice, 
building up in a short time an excellent business. 
Her extensive business acquaintance suggested to 
her the idea of opening a school of stenography 
and typewriting for young men and women, and in 
connection with Mrs. Clara L. Downs, the expert 
accountant, the first business college in the East 
founded and managed wholly by women was es- 
tablished. Miss Daniels, who is a Pitman writer, 
has the reputation of being one of the best 
stenographers in New England and has had a 
wide experience in court and general work, the 
secret of her success lying in her accuracy and 
thoroughness. She was one of the founders of 
the Manchester Shorthand club in 1892 and has 
since been its secretary; she was also a member of 
the World's Fair congress of stenographers, and 
is secretary of Ruth chapter. Order of tlic Eastern 
Star. With two such efficient managers as Miss 
Daniels and Mrs. Downs, it is not strange that 
their commercial school has become one of the 
leadinpf educational institutions of Manchester. 



M- 



ARV E. GRAY, daughter of Andrew and 
Almira (Bennett) Gray, was born Sept. 22. 
1 84 1, in Gray, Me., which derived its name from 

her ancestor, " Bil- 
Iv " Gray, the well- 
known ship mer- 
chant and million- 
aire. Her educa- 
tion was obtained 
at the public school 
in Westbrook.Me., 
and subsequently 
at a boarding 
school in Boston. 
She learned the 
dressmaker's trade 
in the latter city, 
and devoted one 
day each week to 
missionary work, 
having a class of 
about one hun- 
dred in Charlcstown to whom she taught sewing. 
Her heart was in the mission work, and as soon as 
circumstances permitted she gave up dressmaking, 




MARV E. (;RA^. 



and Sept. 4, 1882, at the earnest solicitation of 
Rev. C. W. Wallace, came to Manchester as city 
missionary, in the service of the Manchester City 





MISSION CHAPEL, MERRIMACK STREET. 

Missionary Society. In March, 1885, Miss Gray 
started the day nursery in one of the tenement 
blocks of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Companv, 
and continued this excellent work of carina for 
children during the working hours of their 
mothers for four years. Miss Melissa A. Gray, her 
sister, being the matron. W^hen she came here, 
the main building of the Mission chapel was the 
only room available for the work, and through her 
efforts, in co-operation with the board of control 
of the society, additional rooms, which the 
increased work demanded, were acquired by the 
building of an annex in 1887, and another in 1894. 
Miss Gray is a member of the Melrose Highlands 
(Mass.) Congregational church. 




KEV. L. JJ. BUAGG, 



360 



WILLET'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD, 



MRS. ISABELLA W. FRENCH, daughter society, she labored faithfully and lovingly in the 
of Robert and Sally Wallace and widow of Master's cause, and her life was one perpetual 
William French, was born in Bedford in 18 13. benediction to the poor and the afflicted. She 

was the efficient co-worker and the trusted friend 
of Miss Gray, the city missionary, and in her 




MRS. ISABELLA W. FRENCH. 



She was for manv years deeply interested in the 
City Mission of Manchester, and as a memorial to 
her daughter gave that institution one thousand 
dollars with which to build an annex to the city 
chapel for the use of the mission. A marble tab- 
let commemorating the gift has been placed in 
the chapel. 




JOSEPHINE WALLACE FRENCH. 

death, which occurred Sept. 19, 1893, the relig- 
ious and philanthropic work of the city sustained 
a severe loss. 



TOSEPHINE WALLACE FRENCH, daugh- 
J ter of William and Isal)ella French, was born 
in Bedford Nov. 17, 1841. Receiving her education 
in the public schools of this city, she graduated 
from the high school during the principalship of 
Rev. John P. Newell. At the age of twenty 
years she united with the First Congregational 
church, and for a quarter of a century she went 
about doing good. All forms of Christian work 
interested her, and she gave freely of her time and 
sympathy wherever required. A faithful teacher 
in the Citv Mission Sunday school and a member 
of the board of control of the City Missionary 



IN the field of New Hampshire art. Walter H. 
Shilvock has won, by a steady and logical 
development of his innate talent, a merited repu- 
tation. He was born in London. Eng., Jan. i, 
1872, and with his parents came to America the 
same year. He was educated in the public schools 
of St. Albans, Vt. At the age of sixteen years he 
came to Manchester and studied engraving under 
the direction of Allan E. Herrick. Later he 
obtained a position as engraver for the Novelty 
Advertising Company, which he successfully held 
for nearly four years. Having a desire to advance 
in the facilities of the art, in 1893 he started in 




RIP VAN WINKLE AT HOME. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 




■^,^*y»' 




RIP VAN WINKLE AND THE GNOME. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 




"FIGHTING BOB." 
In ^.Manchester Art Gallery. 



RIP VAN WINKLE RETURNED. 
In Manchester Art Gallery. 




JOHN ROGERS, THE SCULPTOR. 



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^Oi 519.9 



014 014 897 



